Headaches are not only annoying and painful; they can also severely disrupt your life. Regular headaches can affect your mood, sleep patterns, and work performance. If you suffer from headaches, you’ve probably looked into a lot of treatments, but perhaps don’t really know where to start.
While they can take away the pain, many headache medications have undesirable side effects. While rare, a few of these side effects can be severe and even life threatening, even at low doses. Plus, to get rid of more severe headaches, you have to take higher doses. It’s no wonder people have been turning to natural cures to help relieve head pain.
There are several herbs and foods that can be used to treat headaches once they start. Here are some:
* Lemon. Squeezing a few wedges of lemon in your water or juice can get rid of a headache almost immediately. If that doesn’t work, grind the peel into a paste and apply directly to the forehead or temples.
* Cinnamon. Grind a cinnamon stick with water until you get a fine paste. Apply to the forehead and temples for quick relief.
* Rosemary. Grind up a few leaves in some boiling water and inhale the steam under a towel for quick relief.
While temporary headache cures are great, you can reduce headaches in the long term simply by changing your diet. Certain foods have been shown to reduce the occurrence of headaches when added to a well balanced diet, including citrus fruit and apples. Avoid consuming processed sugars, caffeine, and artificial chemicals as they can actually cause headaches.
There are a wide variety of natural cures for headaches that don’t require taking or eating anything at all. While many people are hesitant to try these techniques because they feel they are silly or just don’t understand how they could work, many of them have been effectively used for hundreds of years. You just have to give them an honest try.
* Diaphramatic breathing. This breathing method may take a while to master, but can slow your heart rate, lower blood pressure, ease stress, and consequentially, relieve tension headaches.
* Color visualization. While this method seems a bit hokey to some, it has been shown to relieve pain from headaches as well as other minor pains, using only the power of the mind.
* Positive thinking. While thinking happy thoughts may not take the pain out of a headache, adapting your thinking to include a more positive outlook can reduce stress and pain with time. It can also make you happier and healthier overall.
* Exercise. Getting regular exercise can not only relieve stress and reduce tension headaches over time, but getting a few minutes of vigorous exercise releases chemicals that can blast a headache after it’s already started. While this might be very painful for a few minutes, you’ll feel relief quickly after you’ve started.
While everyone is different, often the cure for a headache will depend on the cause. If you keep getting headaches, try several different cures and techniques and you’re sure to find one that works for you.
