How To Relieve A Headache

Natural Ways To Relieve A Headache

If your life is plagued with frequent headaches, you might be getting tired of having to pop pills to try to take away the pain. You might be wishing for some natural ways to relieve a headache. Do such things exist? Can you get rid of your headache naturally? People all over the world for many years have been doing it and you can as well.

Hot/Cold Therapy
It works differently for different people. For many, finding a nice hot pack and putting it on the area of the head or neck that is feeling the most pain. If you haven't found that to work, you may want to try cold. Something that you may also want to try is immersing your hands and wrists in either hot or cold water. This has been described by some people to almost draw the pain away from the head. Don't try to go from hot to cold very quickly, though, as this could end up making your headache worse. For this headache try hot. If it doesn't work, then try cold the next time.

Acupressure
Find pressure points on the inside of the eyebrows above the nose and press hard. Find pressure points on your temples and gently massage. There are several points throughout your body that massaging or applying pressure to can bring about relief of a headache. There are some on your hands, feet, arm right around the elbow, and at the base of the skull as well as others that can help. Many of these places can be accessed by yourself. Try to find these points and get some relief.

Aromatherapy
This is something that you have to be careful of. Some headaches can be made worse by being exposed to certain scents. If you are going to try to use essential oils, try to get the purer and higher quality ones as these will help the most. Peppermint and eucalyptus oils work very well alone or in conjunction with each other. Some find sandalwood or lavender to help. You probably don't want to put these on your skin unless they are specifically designed to be put there, but you can find relief by putting it on a hot or cold wet rag and placing it near the pain.

Exercise
Not only can frequent exercise cut down on the frequency of headaches, but doing a little light exercise while having a headache can help reduce some of the tension and release endorphins which are painkillers made by your body.

Eating Right
While you should find a diet that will help you be healthier, making the right food choices can sometimes help you avoid a headache or shorten one. There are some foods that have been known to trigger headaches. Some headache triggers are alcohol, cheese, processed foods and certain preservatives. There are also those foods that can help alleviate the pain, such as spinach, cayenne pepper, ginger, and peppermint.

Don't feel that you have to resort to taking headache medicine every time that you have a headache. Constantly putting in those chemicals can do serious damage to your body over time and can in some cases decrease your body's own ability to fight pain. Give your body a break and try to find natural ways to relieve a headache.