Dealing With Headaches

Headache:
Who in the world has not suffered from the glitches of headaches? A headache is defined simply as a pain, which could occur in any area inside the head. They are sometimes felt at both sides of the head, while sometimes the headache is restricted to a single zone of the head. It may happens that a wave of pain emerges from a single point in the head and get spread across the whole head.

Symptoms:
Headaches can be felt in the following ways:

· A sharp, piercing pain.

· Dull, persistent and throbbing sensation.

· A gradual or sudden pain.

· Pain lasting from minutes to hours

Causes of Headaches:
A headache is not a pathology; rather it is a symptom manifesting the psychological or physiological pathologies. There could be a hundred f reasons behind a simple head ache but broadly headaches are divided into two main categories. They are:

Tension -oriented headaches:
Seventy percent of the population suffered from tension oriented headaches. This is common in both male and females; however adult's especially elderly people are more prone to such type of headaches.

The muscles of head and neck contract intensely with a painful stimulus. The causes for such a muscle contraction includes

· Stress

· Fatigue

· Pre and post -menopausal hormonal changes

· Eye sight overload

· Nicotine addiction

· Alcohol addiction

· Over stimulation of sensory nerve like via loud noise, intense lightings

This type of headache results from any significant stress, however, constant fatigue will lead to chronic headaches persisting for longer durations.

Migraine: About twenty percent of the population is suffering from Migraine. The underlying cause of migraine is still unknown. Migraine can be defined as an unbearable pain at a side of the head with over all feeling of illness. Nausea, vomiting and intolerance of lights and sounds are the typical symptoms of migraines. The factors triggering the migraine associated headaches involve:

· Female hormonal imbalance

· Nicotine and alcohol usage

· Genetic factors

· Extensive muscle stretching or stress

· Insomnia

· Other lifestyle irregularities

· Use of oral contraceptives

Some foods also enhance the migraine pain intensely. Common dietary elements leading to migraine are:

1. Chocolate,

2. Dry fruits

3. Fermented condiments,

4. Tyramine containing compounds like aged cheese or smoked fish

5. Preservatives and artificial sweetener containing diets

The chemicals from the above food groups are either trigger the migraine pain or the cravings for such food are responsible for this tender

Remedies to Treat Headaches:

Finger pressures:
Exerting pressure on the pressure points like where the bones of your thumb or the index finger connects help to reduce pains of all categories. It's amazing that the harder you put the pressure from the finger on your head, the more you feel comfortable and your pain is gone.

Towing hair:
Slowly pick some hair over your nape and pull it then continue pulling more hair in your fist closer to the scalp. Use both the fists to pull a bunch of hair. Pull for three seconds and then release the pressure, continue the process until you reach the forehead. Then repeat the procedure at the back of the ear. This procedure will ease the pain for at least ten minutes.

The Temperature Gradients:
You can treat the headaches by hot or cold techniques. If you are considering for a warm solution, take a hot bath or use hot water bottle to massage your head, you can use heating pads either, On the contrary if you need some cold remedies, put some ice packs on your head, you can use frozen vegetables as packs on skin to lower your headache and nourish your skin simultaneously.

Work-outs:
Work outs as alternative healing has been found very effective in reducing muscular or skeletal pains. Here also stretch work outs can help you to get rid of the head ache fast. The most functional types of stretches include

· Neck movements like chin forward, upward, and revolving toward each shoulder

· Shrugging the shoulders up, forward, up and back

· Press your palm on your forehead and hold for a while then press the palm on each side of the head this technique is known as neck isometrics

A twenty minutes, twice a day workout will be enough to get rid of headaches and perform these exercise by alternative holding and releasing the stretch for five minutes each and a single stretch is repeated two to three times per session.

Foot Bath:
It might sound ridiculous that foot bathing will relief the headache but it works; a hot water basin in which your feet are immersed for a suitable length of time will draw blood flow to the lower portion of your body, thus releasing the tension in your forehead blood vessels.

Aerobics:
Oxygen is vital for life and this oxygen will help in reducing headaches. Deep breathing can help you get rid of the head ache; you can exhale or inhale with deep breaths few times a day. An authentic medical research has proven evidences that regular aerobic exercises can reduce migraines and other form of headaches. These exercises include swimming, cycling or a simple few miles walk.

Meditation:
When you are in deep thought or in a meditative state you are not feeling any pain. Your mind is totally focused at a point and you couldn't be distracted further. However, the significant relation of meditation on relieving pain is not established.

Reflexing:
Rubbing your feet relaxes your body and relieves the pain. The pressure points, all over your sole will trigger the pain zones to reduce the stress. Children are treated more effectively through such technique. You can rub your feet yourself or can ask somebody to give your feet a slightly pressured massage.

Dietary and Aromatic Home Remedies:

Peppermint tea:
Peppermint tea is the most effective home remedy to eliminate headaches. A cup of peppermint tea relieves the migraine, effectively. Moreover, you can press the used peppermint tea bags, at the site of the pain to get an instantaneous relief from the cool and soothing aroma of the peppermint tea.

Lavender oil:
Lavender oil is an essential oil. Few drops of lavender oil in a cup of boiling water will release the steam full of lavender aroma which soothes the headaches. Massage the oil on the forehead. This oil is not used orally.

Caffeine:
Drinking caffeine lowers the swelling of blood vessels which helps to cure headaches. Withdrawal of caffeine is one of the causes of headache. Drink a cup of tea or coffee if you are feeling pain in your forehead.

Cinnamon and Sugar:
A good home treatment for curing headache is cinnamon and sugar solution. Take some bits of cinnamon and ground it to a powder. take a cup of boiling water and add this cinnamon powder with two teaspoon sugar. boiling water will release the ingredients from cinnamon and sugar into the air. Sniff the fumes to lessen the sinus oriented and stress based headache, pour this cinnamon sugar solution into an air tight zip locked bag. Hold against the pain spot and press gently to remove the pain

Fish Oil:
it is said that ingestion of omega 3 fatty acids will reduce inflammation, lowers the blood pressure and inhibits blood from clotting; this overall physiology will eventually exert less stress on the head and treat headaches.

Apple and Apple Cider Vinegar:
Both apple and apple cider vinegar balance the body pH. And thus relieves the tense headaches, even aroma from green apple reduces the headaches. Add four table spoon apple cider vinegar in a cup of boiling water and smell the scent.

GINGER ROOT:
Ginger root is a miraculous home treatment as it has potent therapeutic effects. ginger root acts by inhibiting the Prostaglandin synthesis in the body thus reducing the pain upshot.

Take three to four quarter sized ginger root slices and add them in a cup of water. let it simmers for half an hour. Keep the cup closed to retain the flavor. Drink this amazing solution for prompt relief.

Conclusion:
Headache is not a disease, it is may be a sign of some underlying pathology or simply a symptom of environmental or physiological stress. Generally headaches are treated via massages, workouts, reflexive treatment and other pressure techniques, but there are many edibles or aromatic stuffs to treat the headaches effectively. If you are suffering from severe headaches try simple therapies and home remedies to get rid of the pinching pain.

Get rid of Headache through simple treatments.



 By Farah Hedayat


Article Source: Dealing With Headaches