I think all of us have suffered headaches from time to time. Stress, deadlines, or illness might have precipitated that throbbing pain that just won’t go away. And did you know that there’s more bad news for women as three out of four of the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from migraines are women! It could be something to do with the menstrual cycle, but triggers can also include alcohol, weather changes, stress, food and lack of sleep.
Well, the good news is that you don’t necessarily need a doctor’s prescription to treat your headaches. Here are some ways you can find relief, without medication.
photo credit – exercise.com
Our 10 Home Remedies for headaches, which we find work well include :
1. Apply an Ice Pack or a Heat Pack
Anyone can use this no-risk headache therapy, even pregnant women. To alleviate neck tightness, apply heat to the back of the neck but for a pulsating headache, however, skip the heat and try icing the temples. The artery that supplies blood to the dura (the lining of the brain) sits behind the thin bone at the temple. That dura gets inflamed when you’re having a migraine. Lowering the temperature of the blood passing through that area seems to relieve some of the throbbing.
2. Take a warm bath
Take a warm bath or shower then rest or take a nap. This helps with circulation and might alleviate the headache.
3. Massage it
For temporary relief, try rubbing your temples or getting a neck, back, head, or shoulder massage. In a small study, people with migraines who had six weekly massage sessions had less frequent migraines and better sleep during the massage weeks and the three following weeks than a control group.
4. Take a Walk
Regular aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, biking, or swimming, can reduce migraine intensity and frequency, according to the National Pain Foundation. In a small study in the journal Headache, migraine patients who were not regular exercisers engaged in a 12-week indoor cycling program. Participants improved their quality of life and reduced the number of migraines they had, as well as the intensity of the pain.
5. Stretch it
Headache-relieving stretches can get at muscle tension that contributes to pain. Add them to your workout or use them when a headache is about to hit you. Try these three: neck range of motion (chin forward, upward, and toward each shoulder); shoulder shrugs (shrug up, up and forward, and up and back); and neck isometrics (press palm into forehead and hold; press hand on each side of the head). Stretch twice a day for 20 minutes per session. Hold the stretch for five seconds, relax for five seconds, and repeat each stretch three to five times.
6. Drink Water
Drink enough water as dehydration is a common cause of headaches.
7. Take Fish oil
Enthusiasts claim that fish oil reduces inflammation and works by restricting the blood vessels in your temples, but it only works for some poeple.
8. Take Magnesium
There have been studies to show that when taken in doses of 400 to 600 milligrams per day, magnesium is effective for menstrual-associated migraines and migraines associated with auras. The downside: Magnesium may cause diarrhea, if you take too much.
9. Acupuncture
OK, maybe not a home remedy, but you can always get the acupuncturist to come to your home! In acupuncture, thin needles are inserted under the skin to realign the flow of energy, or qi, in the body. An expert analysis, known as a Cochrane review, found acupuncture could help prevent acute migraines as well as drug treatments do and with fewer adverse side effects. Evidence also suggests that acupuncture could help people with frequent episodic or chronic tension-type headaches, they say.
10. Take CoEnzymeQ10
Taking 300 milligrams per day of coQ10 has proven to be effective in reducing head pain.
And these are our 10 home remedies that work for headaches. Have you tried a particularly good way of alleviating headache? Please share 🙂
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