Home Remedies For Headaches and Migraines
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| Almost everyone suffers from headaches someday and you can get rid of a headache without taking allopathic medicines. |
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Overview
Almost everyone, one day or the other, faces this very common problem called Headache. It is said that 80-90 % of people have to suffer from headaches or migraine some day.
When you are feeling a headache, this small thing becomes a big nuisance for you.
You cannot concentrate on anything else. The reasons for headaches are many.
Depending on the cause of the headache, you can generally get rid of it without taking allopathic medicine, by using Ayurvedic or Naturopathic remedies.
What are the reasons behind headaches?
Headaches may be caused due to various reasons;
- Using Hairdryer straight on the head.
- Long working on a computer or watching television.
- Stress or tension.
- Disturbed sleep or oversleeping.
- Excess or over-exercise in summer.
- Weak eyesight or wrong-powered glasses.
- Allergy from some food.
- Missing tea on your tea time or consuming excess tea.
- Over-smoking or passive smoking.
Can hairdryers cause headaches or damage the human brain?
A hairdryer throws dry air on your hair. It also emits a low-level magnetic field. This may cause dryness in hair resulting in a headache.
It may also, to some extent, damage the human brain. It is more harmful if you blow directly on your scalp, forehead, or face.
What to do?
avoid using a hair dryer for more than a few minutes.
Does working on a computer cause headaches?
The computer has become a part of everyday life for many of us. Working on a computer or watching television for long hours may cause headaches.
The distance between our eyes and the monitor is called working distance and the distance at which our eyes actually want to relax in front of the monitor is called the resting point of accommodation (RPA).
In order to see what is on screen, our eye muscles constantly readjust focus and the working distance becomes less than RPA.
This struggle between where our eyes want to focus and where they have to focus results in eye fatigue resulting in headaches.
Excess illumination in the room or office you are working in may also trigger headaches.
Moreover, if there are some other people working in the same room, glare from other computers too, affects your eyes.
What to do?
Avoid sitting on the computer continuously for long hours. Relax your eyes in between after every 20-30 minutes and do some eye-relaxing exercises. Adjust the brightness of the monitor and illumination in the room.
Does stress cause headaches?
One of the primary reasons behind headaches is stress or tension.
They are the most common among adults. The headaches caused by stress or tension are called stress headaches or tension headaches.
There is no single cause of tension headaches but stress in itself is a cause of headaches.
They don't run in families. At the time of such headaches, muscles tighten in the back of the neck and scalp.
Some people feel like something is squeezing their skulls.
Often headaches start slowly in the middle of the day and last for 30 minutes to a few days.
They don't affect your vision or strength and thus don't keep you from your daily activities.
Such headaches may
- affect both sides of your head equally.
- make the muscles in your neck and shoulders feel tight.
- start from the back of your head and move forward.
- make you feel tired.
- make focusing difficult
- cause irritation.
- make you sensitive to noise or light.
What to do?
Avoid stress or tension, cool yourself, take things easy, do some concentration and relaxing exercises, and meditate.
Does disturbed sleep or oversleeping cause headaches?
Sleeping is just like charging the battery of your body cells. There is no substitute for sleep. Getting the right amount of sleep is an integral part of your health.
Lack of sleep is linked to various types of headaches.
Good and uninterrupted sleep keeps you healthy and happy. A lack of sleep triggers headaches and migraines.
For good health how much and how long one should sleep, differs from body to body and person to person.
As per studies, an average person must take sound sleep of more than 6 hours a day, but you may see many people boasting to sleep for only 4 hours a day and still doing good.
This is also a matter of research on whether lack of sleep causes headaches or headaches cause disturbed sleep.
The reasons for disturbed sleep may include some discomfort due to an unsuitable bed or the temperature of the room.
Sometimes when we go to some other place like a hotel or relatives' home, we may feel disturbed sleep.
The reverse side is also true. Oversleeping or sleeping for longer hours than you normally do, too causes headaches.
What to do?
Take a proper amount of sleep, comfort yourself, and cool yourself before going to bed.
Does over-exercise cause headaches?
When we do exercise like jogging, running, or working out in the gym, the blood circulation in the muscles of the head, neck, and scalp increases.
This results in the dilation of blood vessels. This may cause some headaches. This is termed an exertional headache.
These exertional or exercise headaches are divided into two types namely primary and secondary.
Primary exertional headaches are not to be taken seriously because they may be temporary and do not exist for long. They may exist for 5 minutes to some hours.
Secondary exertional headaches need to be taken seriously and may result in
- neck rigidity
- vomiting
- unconsciousness
- vision problem or double vision
- symptoms as in primary exertional headache
People suffering from secondary exertional headaches should not take it lightly and should consult a doctor.
Doing over-exercise or exertion in summer generally results in a headache.
What to do?--In the summers, try to do light exercise and avoid heavy or too long exercise or exertion, and always drink more water before, between, and after doing workouts. avoid workout an empty stomach.
Does weak eyesight cause headaches?
In order to see, our eyes focus on the object we want to see. This work is done by our eye muscles.
If your eyesight is weak, there is undue strain and pressure on the muscles involved in focusing. This may lead to headaches.
If you ignore this condition for long, this may result in severe headaches, particularly if you have to work on a computer or do reading work for long hours.
Also if you are using glasses and you have not got your eyesight checked for long, there is a possibility that you are using the wrong-powered glasses leading to headaches.
Change in number may be due to growing age or also due to excess glare in your computer or excess lights on your head in the room where you are working.
What to do?--In case of headache or blurred vision, consult your doctor immediately and get your eyesight checked. In normal courses too, doctors recommend that you should get your eyesight checked every two to three years.
Can food allergies cause headaches?
Many people have allergies from certain foods like
- Chocolates
- Coffee
- Ice cream or other dairy products
- Chinese foods
- Cane sugar
- Yeast
- Eggs
- Corns etc.
It is possible that the same food will cause a headache one day and the other day it will not. Though, headaches due to food allergies may be for short time.
What to do?--have knowledge about your body culture and about what foods cause you allergies and are not suitable for you. Avoid such foods or meals.
Can tea cause headaches?
Tea contains caffeine. If you have a routine of taking tea at a particular time, which is called your tea time, it makes you caffeine dependent.
Regular intake of caffeine may result in headaches. If someday you miss tea during your tea time, you may feel a headache.
Though the level of dependence on tea may vary from person to person, normally if you take tea at a fixed time continuously for 3 days or more, you may be dependent on it.
What to do?--the best thing is to save yourself from this habit or whenever you have missed your tea time and you are feeling a headache, take it later.
Can smoking cause headaches?
Cigarettes are made of tobacco and tobacco contains nicotine. Nicotine in cigarettes causes addiction. Due to nicotine, smoking may cause headaches and may trigger migraine.
Nicotine constricts the blood vessels in the brain thereby restricting blood flow to the brain which may cause headaches or migraine.
According to research, people who smoke are more likely to get frequent headaches.
Though nicotine is the main culprit, tobacco products may contain other chemicals which contribute to headaches.
Not only smokers but passive smokers too may suffer from headaches.
Passive smokers are those who don't smoke but inhale the smoke because of sitting or passing through smokers.
What to do?--Don't smoke and keep away from smokers, when they are smoking.
10 home remedies for Headaches;
Home remedies for headaches change with season and reason;
Please see the above video for reference.
#1, Season: Winter
When you feel a headache in the winter season prepare and drink tea with the following ingredients
- Ginger powder: Ginger besides a lot of other health benefits, is good for relieving headaches and migraines.
- Ginger contains chemicals gingerols and shogaols, which have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects.
- Our brain contains the chemical serotonin that helps in reducing migraine. Ginger helps in increasing serotonin levels in the brain.
- Cloves: Cloves also have cooling and pain-relieving properties. Cloves contain the chemical eugenol which constitutes 70-80 % of it.
- Clove has been used in India, Pakistan Indonesia, and East Africa since the thirteenth century.
- You may also crush a few cloves, put them in a clean handkerchief and smell them to get relief from a headache.
- Black peppercorns: Peppercorns contain an enzyme piperine which has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Peppercorns are also rich in vitamins A, K, and C, and minerals like magnesium, calcium, potassium, riboflavin, and thiamine which are good for nourishing of body.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon has many medicinal properties. It is also a natural pain killer.
#2, Season: Winter
Massage some almond oil on the head and forehead. This will relieve headaches.
In case of migraine attacks, apply 4-5 drops of almond oil in each nostril before going to bed.
#3, Season: Winter
Light running and jogging for a few minutes may relieve your headache in winter.
According to studies, light cardio-respiratory exercises like jumping, dancing, cycling, jogging, and swimming help in reducing migraines and normal headaches.
Be sure that you don't do exercise or work out on empty stomach.
Eat something a half hour before exercise and consume enough water before, during, and after exercise.
Always do warm-ups and start with low-intensity exercise.
#4, Season: Winter
In winter if you have to go out for long hours, you may feel a headache due to the cold air.
Keep your feet dipped in hot water in a bucket for ten to fifteen minutes thrice a week. This will give relief from seasonal headaches.
#5, Season Summer
If you feel a headache in the summer, you need something that gives you a soothing and cooling effect.
Prepare tea and add to it ginger, peppermint leaves, and cardamom and enjoy this tea whenever you feel a headache in summer.
Due to its medicinal properties and minty flavor, peppermint, a native of Europe and Asia, has been used by people both for flavor and medicinal purposes.
Peppermint leaves or peppermint oil is used in many daily use products like toothpaste, teas, aroma products, candles, etc.
It contains the chemicals menthone, limonene, and menthol.
#6, Season Summer
To get rid of headaches due to heat or exertion in summer, take a massage of mustard oil on your head and forehead.
Mustard oil, due to its cooling and anti-inflammatory properties, gives relief from headaches.
#7, Season Summer
For relief from migraines or headaches during summer, you may also use an ice pack or cold compress on the head, forehead, and neck.
#8, Season Summer
Another good recipe for immediate relief--mix three spoonfuls of honey and the juice of one lemon into one glass of cold water and drink.
Due to the cooling and soothing properties of lemon, shikanji (sweet lemon water) is widely used in Indian homes in summer.
#9, Season Any
Apply salt to a full apple and take it with a glass of milk.
You may also take an apple with salt on empty stomach in the morning. It reduces blood pressure thereby relieving headaches.
#10, For migraine
During migraines, avoid sharp lights and noise since they stimulate migraine and cause irritation.
Also avoid alcohol, chocolates, coffee, cheese, and salami.
Acupressure therapy for Headaches :
Acupressure therapy is the natural way of healing pains.
This therapy has been in use for thousands of years. As per studies, acupressure therapy can heal headaches and migraines.
- Some acupressure points have been suggested in the video. Locate the suggested points properly and press each point in a pumping manner (press release-press release), for 1 minute each point.
- Before pressing the acupressure points, apply some oil to the point. Use a jimmy (pointer), finger, or thumb for pressing the points.
- The First point is called LI4. This point lies in the flesh between the thumb and index finger. If you feel a sharp pain on pressing this, it means you got the right point. Press it.
- The Second point is ST44. This point is located in the skin between the second and third toes. Locate and press it in the same manner.
- The Third point is TW23. This acupressure point is located at the outer tip of the eyebrow. Locate and press this.
- The fourth point is GB24. This point is located on the forehead, one thumb width above the midpoint of the eyebrow. Locate and press this too.
Though you can do acupressure yourself, it is better if you can get it done by someone else.
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Compiled by: Paramjit Singh Rana
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