Work stress, family demands, skimpy sleep schedules—everyday stresses can give us all a headache every now and then.
In a world of traffic jams, tight schedules, and high-speed everything, it’s no wonder we find ourselves popping an occasional pain reliever. For a bad headache, choose one that contains a combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine. But painkillers are only part of the solution. There’s much more you can do for kill your headaches pain.
Rest, ice packs or a long, hot shower may be all you need to relieve a tension headache. A variety of strategies can help reduce the severity and frequency of chronic tension headaches without using medicine.
Try these home remedies of the following:
Manage your stress level
One way to help reduce stress is by planning ahead and organizing your day. Another way is to allow more time to relax. And if you're caught in a stressful situation, consider stepping back.
Give some good press
With a firm, circular motion, massage the web of skin between the base of your thumb and your forefinger. Continue massaging for several minutes, then switch hands and repeat until the pain resolves. Acupressure experts call this fleshy area trigger point and maintain that it is linked to areas of the brain where headaches originate.
Put your feet in hot water
• Believe it or not, soaking your feet in hot water will help your head feel better. By drawing blood to your feet, the hot-water footbath will ease pressure on the blood vessels in your head. For a really bad headache, add a bit of hot mustard powder to the water.
• For a tension headache, place a hot compress on your forehead or the back on your neck. The heat will help relax knotted-up muscles in this area.
• It might sound contradictory, but you can follow up the heat treatment (or substitute it) by applying a cold compress to your forehead. (Put a couple of ice cubes in a washcloth or use a bag of frozen vegetables.) Cold constricts blood vessels, and when they shrink, they stop pressing on sensitive nerves. Since headache pain sometimes originates in nerves in back of your neck, try moving the compress to the muscles at the base of your skull.
An alternative cold compress
Soak your hands in ice water for as long as you can stand it. While your hands are submerged, repeatedly open and close your fists. This works on the same principle as an ice pack on your head—the cold narrows your dilated blood vessels.
Try a cup of coffee
• Have a cup of strong coffee. Caffeine reduces blood-vessel swelling, and thus can help relieve a headache. This is why caffeine is an ingredient in some extra-strength painkillers like Excedrin. However, if you are already a heavy coffee drinker, skip this. Caffeine withdrawal can cause headaches, creating a vicious cycle.
Try something diffrent
• Tie a scarf, or necktie around your forehead, then tighten it just to the point where you can feel pressure all around your head. By reducing the flow of blood to your scalp, this can help relieve the pain caused by swollen blood vessels. You might try soaking the scarf in vinegar, a traditional headache remedy.
Soothe with scent
• Certain essential oils—especially lavender—can help ease tension and relieve the pain of a headache. Gently massage a bit of lavender oil onto your forehead and temples, then lie back and enjoy the relaxing scent. For maximum relief, slip away to a room that’s cool, dark, and quiet. The longer you can lie there quietly breathing in the aroma, the better.
• In addition to lavender oil—or instead of it—use peppermint oil. The menthol it contains can help dissolve away a headache. Its fragrance at first stimulates, then relaxes, the nerves that cause headache pain.
• If you have a vaporizer, add seven drops lavender oil and three drops peppermint oil, then breathe in the relief. If you don’t, try sprinkling a few drops of peppermint oil on a tissue. Inhale deeply several times.
• Try wringing out two wet peppermint tea bags and place them on your closed eyelids or forehead for five minutes.
• An anti-inflammatory, ginger was traditionally used to treat headaches, and it seems to work.
Eat nuts
Instead of popping a pill when you get a headache, toss back some almonds. For everyday tension-type headaches, almonds can be a natural remedy and a healthier alternative to other medicine. It acts as a pain reliever because it contains something called salicin, which is also an agent in popular over the counter killers. Try eating a handful or two of these wholesome nuts when you feel the ache start to set in.
People who suffer from migraines may find that almonds are a trigger food.
Get moving
An aching head does not inspire one to get active, but getting up and moving-outside in fresh air if possible- can help loosen up tight muscles causing a headache. It also gives you something to focus on to take your mind off the pain. Good exercise also releases endorphins, which can dull the uncomfortable sensation caused by a headache. To get the most out of your activity, keep in mind the following tips.
Stay regularly
Exercising only when you feel like it is less likely to prevent headaches then exercising on a regular basis. Routine also gives your body just that-routine. Routine helps us function, at least physically, better than we might if we didn’t have any.
Warm up and cool down
Take your time getting yourself warmed up and properly cooled down. Jumping into strenuous activities and then abruptly stopping is more likely to cause a headache then stop it.
Enjoy the outdoor with family
If possible, exercise outside. The invigorating fresh air and change in scenery does something that just makes our bodies and minds feel good.
Improve your posture
Improving your posture can make all the difference in the world when it comes to tension-type headaches. Many of us spend our days working in an office or sitting down at a computer with little to no movement, and many of us are guilty of poor posture. We slouch, slump, and hunch forward, which strains our muscles and creates nasty headaches. Try using an ergonomic chair if you’re sitting down a lot, and make a conscious effort to sit up tall but relaxed, with your shoulders back, your chest open, and your neck not sticking too far forward. Working on strengthening core muscles helps a lot with posture, since balance and the strength to support ourselves properly comes from mostly from our center.
Use your imagination
Mental imagery has been shown to reduce headaches, whether mild or severe, by helping people relax and loosen up the knots that may be causing the pain. There are guided imagery coaches, but you can also do this on your own. Imagery exercises create a “mental scape” that is calm, peaceful, and pain free-your happy place, if you will. To work on your ‘scape, try the following.
The followng tip are....
Find a quiet place to close your eyes and use your mind to fill your head with something other than pain. Picture rolling hills or waves lapping over sand, even just creating a landscape of soothing colors can be helpful. Try adding a quiet soundtrack to this exercise; be it sounds of nature or just a soft song that calms you down. Breathe and be patient. Also, be patient. And then be a little more patient. Don’t get worked up because your headache isn’t gone after you spent 30 seconds impatiently picturing a tree, this stuff takes practice and some dedication (and patience) but it’s worth it
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