We all get them, but it’s not always so easy to get rid of them. Below are five not-so-common remedies for curing your headache. Before getting into the techniques though, consider this. Most headaches are caused by three main things. Stress, eyestrain and sinus pressure. All three are generally easily remedied.
1 – Take a hot bath. Most people probably don’t know about this one, but it’s a technique that can give you almost immediate relief. There are three reasons for this. The first is that laying in hot water thins your blood, which is what aspirin does. The second is because laying with your head on the back of the tub realigns the pressure points on your neck and shoulders. The third is that hot water lets off steam, even if you can’t see it, which helps to loosen up sinus congestion. To work, the bath needs to be as hot as you can stand. Generally the best way to get the water really hot, is turn the tap on warm, get in, then turn up the heat as you go. This way your body will grow accustomed to the heat as you lay there.
2 – Use your hands. Whether it’s in the bath, laying in bed, or at your desk. You can do wonderful things with your hands and fingers. Use both palms pressed against your forehead, or even your scalp. Press as hard as you can. This will force the blood out of those areas, which is where the pain originates. Moving the blood or congestion out will ease the pressure which will in turn ease the pain.
3 – Blow baby blow. You nose that is. If you headache is due to sinus pressure, the best thing to do is blow your nose as often as you can remember. This forces the fluid build-up out of your sinuses and out your nose, thereby reducing the pressure of sinus buildup which is the actual cause of your headache.
4 – Drugs and food. Yes, of course there are many headache medicines. Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen are designed to alleviate the pain though, not deal with its underlying causes. Aspirin on the other hand works by thinning the blood, as mentioned above, and also has an analgesic for the pain. Other medicines can help too of course. Decongestants and Antihistamines can help if your headache is due to sinus pressure. Most headache medicines also have some caffeine in them, which also helps to thin the blood. But then, drinking coffee or eating chocolate will do the same thing. A word of caution on this though, because sometimes a quick influx of either can actually cause a headache or make one worse.
5 – Music. Most people know that closing your eyes and listening to soft music is quite soothing and can help with stress and eyestrain headaches. But there is also some evidence that listening to really loud hard rock can help too. The jury is still out on why exactly, but there seems to be some bit of consensus that the loud steady beat of drums , crashing symbols and heavy guitar gets in the way of your brain trying to make sense of both the headache pain and music at the same time. Or it might just be that it gets your mind off your stress. Who knows. The point is, for some people this works very well.
Clearly I’m no doctor, but I have had a lot of headaches in my life, and all of these five simple techniques described above have worked for me at various times. My final suggestion is to combine them. If you are someone who suffers headaches, I hope these techniques work for you.
