Better Living

101 Tips:   26-50

26.
    Find out if you have any allergies. Allergies can cause headaches. Some of us are allergic to specific substances and these substances can trigger off a headache. It may be certain odors or it might be a certain flavors. Each time you get a headache just try and find out what triggered it.
   
27.
    Dry your head well after a shower. It is best to use a towel for this. The problem with water is that it can seep in through the scalp of your head and if you leave your head damp, the moisture can seep in result in a headache.

28.
    Do not blow dry your hair as far as possible. Dryers are not a very good idea. The heat from the dryer is actually bad for your head.  Go easy on driers and if at all you must use a dryer, use it only if you have long hair. Never use it to blow dry the short hair on your head.

29.
    If you must blow dry your hair, keep the blow drier well away from your head. Not only is the heat bad for your head, but the drone of the drier can also induce a headache.

30.
    If you have to go out in the sun, protect your head using a hat or a cap. The sun has many benefits as far as health is concerned, but if you expose yourself directly to the sun, you are likely to end up with a headache.

    The heat from the sun can bring about vascular changes and alter the delicate balance of the various fluids inside the brain. This in all likelihood will precipitate as a whale of a headache. That is why it is imperative that you protect your head with a cap or a hat when you have to go out in the sun.

31.      
    Stay away from rain - especially the first shower of the season. It is not good to let the rain fall directly on your head. Rain water may be refreshing but in can result in a headache. If you get wet in the rain, make it a point to dry your head as soon as you can.

    The first rains especially are very bad because the water will contain a lot of pollutants and this itself can result in a lot of diseases.

32.
    Avoid inhaling polluting gases like automobile fumes and second-hand smoking. Many of the gases let out by automobiles and other exhaust pipes are highly toxic and they itself can cause a headache.

    Second hand smoking by which you inhale the smoke from your neighbor’s cigarette too can cause a headache. This is especially true if you are a non-smoker and not used to the smell smoke.

33.
    Do not wear a hair-do in which your hair is tied up too tightly. Some people especially women tie up their hair in very tight buns or brainds. If your hair is pulled back too tightly it is going to hurt your scalp and the end result is that you will get a headache.  

34.
    Try to keep your mind free from worries.  Listening to music or taking a nap is a good way to clear the mind.

35.
If you feel stressed up, try to relax.  Scented candles, warm bathes, and soothing music may help you relax.

36.
    Try to get a good night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep is very important to keep away headaches.

    "Sleep is one of the most basic and universal activities in which we all engage.  Yet, getting to sleep, staying asleep, and waking refreshed can be highly elusive to most of us some of the time, and many of us all of the time.”

     The National Sleep Foundation reports (2002) that America is on the verge of a poor sleep epidemic, characterized by the following eye-opening statistics:

§    64% of American adults get less than the eight hours of sleep that experts recommend is required to maintain optimal physical, mental, and emotional health.

§    One-third of the US population says they get less sleep now than they did five years ago

§    One-half of Americans have experienced insomnia (sleeplessness) 

§    Drowsiness due to a lack of a proper night of sleep interferes with the daily activities of 37 percent of all adults.


    You need peace and quiet to get enough sleep and so you should take care to see that there are no physical disturbances. Turn the ring tone of your telephone to the lowest possible volume. Do not worry about important calls; if the calls are so important, then the caller will call back later when you have turned up the volume.



    Try to cut out other disturbances by wearing ear muffs or eye blinds. Do not read in bed before you sleep, in all likelihood you will drift off to sleep with the lights on and after sometime the same light will wake you up.

37.
    Do not oversleep. Oversleeping is just as bad as not getting enough sleep. If you sleep too much or for too long you will wake up with a very woozy feeling and that will most likely turn into a headache. Our body tells us when it has had enough sleep. Listen to the cue and get up, do not succumb to the temptation to just lay in bed.

38.
    Try to get at least eight hours of sleep every night.  Studies have shown that this is the requirement for most healthy adults.  Examine your daily schedule to see how you can rearrange your day to ensure the right amount of sleep.  Try to cut out television and other non-necessary activities.

39.
    Stay away from sedatives. Sedatives are not a solution to your sleep problems. Many of them are addictive and their medicine will eventually stop working for you.

    Sedatives also affect the time that you wake up. You might get a good night’s sleep when you take sedatives, but the chances are rare that you will wake up refreshed.

40.
    Each time you get a headache do not reach for your aspirin. Some headaches go by themselves. Do not make you body dependent on aspirin. 

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.