How
To Stop Headaches
Advice Notes 41-50
41
Try massaging your temples. Massaging your
temples gently stimulates the circulation of blood and relaxes
the muscles of the forehead and temples. This itself soothes
a person and provide relief from a headache.
42
Touch therapy is a new technique that is just
becoming available to cure headaches. A lot of research is going
on this area and even now experts have not been able to identify
how touch therapy can help in healing. The best possible explanation
is that our bodies are in fact tuned to respond to the touches
of others.
When we were babies our mother’s touch was
perhaps the most reassuring thing in the world. In fact experts
are baffled by the way new born babies are able to distinguish
between a mother’s touch and the touch of a stranger.
As we grow older we delight in the encouraging
pats and caresses of our parents and teachers. Even in our social
life there is a lot of touching going on. That is probably why
people use the hand shake as an exchange of warmth.
So when a person is ill and miserable, the
touch of another person especially if it is a person who really
cares for you can relieve you of your pain.
The only thing that the person has to do is
to be gentle. He or she should stop when the patient has had
enough.
43
Try massaging certain key points of your body like the nape
of your neck, the shoulder and neck muscles and the muscles
at the web between your thumb and the rest of your fingers.
The entire nervous system, the blood vessels, the skeletal and
muscular systems are all interconnected. So if you can identify
certain nodal points of the body and apply the right pressure
there, you can indeed get relief from a headache.
This is the basic philosophy of the principle of acupressure.
Just be careful to apply the right amount of pressure.
44
Do not wash your head in hot water. It can trigger off a lot
of vascular changes that can do more harm than good. So though
a hot bath may be stimulating to your body it is not the best
thing that you can give your head.
Take a steam bath if you want to but try to keep your head above
the steamy fumes. Cold water is best for your head so keep it
that way. And mind you, by cold water we are not referring to
chilled water.
45
Heady fragrances of some perfumes and room fresheners can give
you a headache. This need not be something that you have used
on your own body. It can be a perfume that your neighbor has
used. So if you sit next to person and feel that your head it
getting woozy, try to move to a safe distance.
46
Incense smoke is not good for you. Incense smoke contains a
lot of alkaloids and the inhalation of these can spark of a
lot of changes in the internal mechanism, do not take the risk.
47
Too much noise is bad for you. In fact sound pollution is one
of the causes for headaches to become so prevalent.
Contrary to popular belief, sound pollution is not cause just
by machines and automobiles. I do not want to argue with the
fact that machines and automobiles cause a lot of sound. A journey
down the street during the rush hour is enough to give any body
a headache. But apart from that blaring music too does a lot
of harm.
Take care to lower the volume if you want to listen to music.
Loud music is not really good for you. And if you want to play
music in order to soothe your nerves and instead you are playing
loud music, it will have just the opposite effect. Your blood
pressure will actually go up and your adrenalin levels too will
increase.
The best thing that you can do is stay away from all sources
of loud noise and that includes noisy kids as well.
48
Plug your ears if you are moving into a loud sound zone. Use
ear plugs, ear muffs or thick wads of cotton. Most grocery stores
and convenience stores carry sound-reducing and sound-blocking
earplugs, many of which are not too noticeable.
49
Try steam inhalation. This is especially true for those who
have a sinus problem. Steam inhalation is an excellent way of
clearing all the spaces inside. If you have an infection too,
a steam inhalation can be very soothing. But there is a word
of caution that I have to offer here.
Be very careful about you eyes. Remember that it is not advisable
to expose your eyes to steam and so take care to protect your
eyes when you are inhaling steam.
Another thing that you should be careful about is the temperature
of the steam. You just need fairly hot water and not scorching
hot, sizzling vapors of water. The object is not to scald your
skin but to send some warm vapors up your nose. In fact steam
inhalation is one of the most recommended therapies for people
who get sinus related headache.
The point that you should bear in mind is that the sooner you
inhale once you get the headache, the better. If you wait for
long hours before you inhale, you are going to have to inhale
longer and at shorter intervals for the inhalation to have any
effect on the headache.
50
Menthol vapors too can be of some relief. Menthol vapors too
can help towards clearing your sinuses. Try dissolving a balm
or ointment in the hot water that has to be inhaled. Then inhale
the vapors. This is the best way of inhaling menthol vapors.
Advice
Notes 31-40 | Table
of Contents | Advice
Notes 51-60
|
