Don’t Suffer in Silence, Put an end to the Pain with Effective Natural Remedies
Imagine this scenario. You’re stuck in rush hour traffic, waiting to get home after a long, tiring day at work. You can feel the silent throb of a headache slowly creeping up on you. All of a sudden, the pain becomes unbearable that it feels like someone is hammering inside your head. You can’t pause to think or analyse. All you want to do is head home and pop a painkiller to make the ache go away. Does this sound familiar?
Headaches – More deadly than you imagine
WHO states that almost 50% of all adults have experienced painful headaches at least once in the last year and 30% of these sufferers have reported migraine. In fact, headaches are the most common disorders of the nervous system. Sadly, it’s the most undiagnosed and often untreated.
Painkillers don’t Treat Headaches
When left untreated, headaches take a toll on the quality of your life. Most people when diagnosed with migraines or other forms of headaches resort to traditional medications. However, these conventional pills don’t prevent them from occurring. Rather, they just treat the pain superficially.
Alternative Treatments are gaining Favour
The silver lining here is that most patients today understand the side-effects of painkillers and are looking for alternative treatments like relaxation techniques and naturopathic remedies to treat headaches. And, the best thing is that several of these natural treatment methods are now being recommended even by the medical community.
Before, we look at the natural remedies to treat and prevent headaches, let’s take a few moments to understand the different types of headaches and what’s causing them.
Five Common Types of Headaches
- Tension Headache – The most common type, it’s also known as a stress headache. It’s caused by muscles contracting in the head and neck regions and as the name implies are triggered by stress.
- Migraine – One of the most well-known types of headaches, it’s accompanied by a throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head. Other symptoms include nausea, increased sensitivity to light and sound.
- Sinus Headache – They are caused by congestion or a blocked sinus. When mucus gets trapped inside your sinuses, it causes infection, which leads to headaches.
- Hormone Headache – This is triggered by changes in the hormone levels in the body during pregnancy, menstruation or menopause. Birth control pills also cause this type of headaches.
- Cluster Headache – It’s short but excruciating and occurs periodically. The pain is always on one side of the head and is usually seasonal. Meaning, a person gets it at the same time, year after year.
Causes and Risk Factors of Headaches
If you’re wondering why or what causes the traumatising pain of headaches, here are the reasons. In general, headaches are a result of nerve signals that are transmitted between the blood vessels and the muscles in your head. The exact cause of these messages is still unknown. However, studies reveal that the following factors trigger headaches:
- Stress or tension
- Illnesses like cold, fever, sinus or throat infections
- Strain on your eyes or back
- Environmental triggers like chemicals, perfumes and second-hand smoke
- Heredity, some headaches like a migraine, run in the family
- Hormone imbalance
- Improper diet and food allergies
5 Natural Remedies to Cure & Prevent Headaches
Luckily, there are several tried and tested natural remedies that zap away your pain in no time. Here, you can find a list of the top cures.
1. The Healing Power of Aromatherapy
The calming and soothing effects of essential oils make then an effective remedy for relieving headaches. Peppermint oil has a cooling effect, thereby increasing the blood flow to your skin and soothes muscle contractions. Lavender oil acts as a sedative and mood stabiliser and is useful for treating migraines.
Take a few drops of either of these essential oils in your palms and rub it on your temples, forehead and the back of your neck. Close your eyes and relax for a few minutes. If you find the smell of these essential oils too strong, you can dilute it with coconut or almond oil.
2. Stay Hydrated
Beverages like tea, coffee, sugary drinks, colas and alcohol all leave you dehydrated. One of the major causes of frequent headaches is dehydration. Quench your thirst and beat headaches by drinking plenty of water and consuming fruits and vegetables that are water-rich. Include the following in your diet to stay hydrated: cucumbers, watermelons, green peppers, zucchini, spinach, strawberries and grapefruit.
If you feel a headache creeping up on you mid-day, reach for your water bottle and drink up. You can also try flavouring your water with a dash of lemon for added energy and to feel refreshed.
3. Detox your Body
A Detox doesn’t provide you with just cosmetic effects but also flushes out the accumulated toxins from your body. Draw a soothing Detox bath to calm your frayed nerves and to relieve tension. Fill your bathtub with hot water (as hot as you can tolerate) and relax till the water cools down to flush out toxins from your system.
Dress up your Detox bath by adding a cup of baking soda, essential oils or apple cider vinegar. You can also try mud therapy or fasting therapy to push out toxins from your body.
4. Stretch and Move your Muscles with Yoga
Let’s face the fact. Most of you spend a significant part of the day chained to your desk or hunched over your laptops, mobiles and other gadgets. This puts pressure on your neck muscles and leads to building up of tension. An easy way to relieve this is to take a break every 30 minutes and do some simple stretching exercises to keep your muscles supple and flexible.
Yoga is an excellent way to relieve tension from your muscles and to improve overall flexibility. If you feel a headache beginning, try a few poses like child’s pose or downward dog to keep the pain at bay.
5. Reflexology or Acupressure
Acupressure is an ancient Chinese technique that applies pressure to certain nerve points in the body to help in treating illness. You can try stimulating the following points to eliminate headache pains.
Massage the space between your big toe and second toe or the area where the pinky toe and the second to last toe intersect for 30 to 60 seconds. If you have a headache on the left side of your head, try massaging the right foot and vice versa. One word of caution, don’t press these points if you’re pregnant, as it can trigger premature contractions.
Above all, Take Sufficient Rest
If you’re struggling with splitting headaches, try to take a step back and relax. Lie down for a few moments in a dark room, close your eyes and try Savasana, Pranayama or other deep breathing techniques to relieve tension and to calm your nerves.
Put an End to Headaches & Get your Life Back on Track!
