Better Living

101 Tips:   76-101

76.
    Another method is to try bending over.  The moment you lower your head you will feel as if there is something heavy inside your head. If doing so leads you to discover you have a sinus infection, refrain from bending over until the infection clears.

77.
    Avoid irritating people. Anger and irritation are major causes of headaches.

78.
    Avoid stuffy rooms. Stuffy rooms mean that obviously there is not enough air in the room. If the room smells musty too it is a good idea to get out f the room or open all the windows and doors and let the fresh air come in.

79.
    It is also not good for you to sleep in a room that does not have proper ventilation. Even if the A/C is turned on, try to also turn on the fan to circulate the air.

80.
    Dip cotton in iced water and apply it on your forehead. This is a way of soothing a sore head. But do not leave on the cotton for too long.

    Or if you have had a particularly bad day you could try applying an ice bag to your head. But again, remember that objective is to cool your head and not to chill it so do not apply the ice bag for too long.

81.
    Crying is not good for a headache. If you are prone to sinus headaches, crying is not good for you. When such a person cries for even a minute or two there is very good chance that the tears will lead to a headache.

    If you feel you might start crying, try breathing deeply, or try to lie down and fall asleep.  Some situations are unavoidable, but some, like sad movies, are easy to avoid.

82.
    Do not skip meals and go about hungry. Eat at fixed times. Hunger is the worst enemy of a person who is prone to migraine attacks. When you miss meals or have meals at times other than normal, you are actually depriving your body of the much needed energy.

    The body will seek out alternative measure that is it will start working on fat reserves but the fats cannot be easily converted to sugars which the body desperately needs. So when the body does not get what it wants, the cells get deprived of energy and this manifests itself in the form of a headache.  

83.
    If you have a sinus problem, blow your nose often. Blowing your nose helps to get rid of the mucus that accumulates in the sinuses. It is better if you can blow your nose after a steam inhalation.


84.
    It is also a good idea to water rinse your nose. This is a very effective way of clearing your sinuses and saving your self from a bout of dust allergy as well. All you have to do is cup your hand and hold a little bit of water in it. Dip you nose in and inhale the water very gently.

     The water must only ascend the passage of your nose and must not go any further. You can control the ascent of the water by controlling your breath. After this breathe out and let the water out. Repeat this a couple of times. You might snort the first two or three times but after that you will soon get the hang of it. 

85.
    If you have an allergic condition like a dust allergy, stay away from dust as it can trigger of the sinus infection.  Make sure you change your air filters regularly, and consider buying special filters for people with dust allergies.

86.
    If you find it impossible to stay away from dust at least wear a gas mask.

87.
    Foods containing monosodium glutamate and caffeine are bad so stay away from them. They too can start a migraine.

88.
    Fermented and pickled food can be bad for you, especially if you suffer from frequent headaches.

89.
    Contraceptive pills can trigger headaches because these pills actually interfere with the hormonal functioning in the body. (Then again, last time we checked, screaming babies trigger headaches as well.)

90.
    Maintain a headache diary. I know that the idea might sound strange but I really mean it. This is something that every one who suffers from headaches should do.
 
    The person should closely monitor himself or herself. The factors that person should take into account are food and beverage intake, weather conditions, stress and menstrual cycles.

     Try to identify the causes that lead to the headache or in other words the causes that trigger off the headache. Find out how often and how frequent the aches are and whether they are related to any external condition like the weather perhaps or travel. It is really not very difficult to do this.

    This exercise will help the person find out if there are definite causes and then all that the person has to do is to avoid those causes.



91.
    Consult the doctor specifically for the headache. Many people feel queasy about going to a doctor with something as insignificant as a headache. But the fact is that there is nothing insignificant about a headache.

    It is one of the most maddening things in the world. Every year the nation loses millions of dollars worth of productive days because good workers go down with headaches.

    There is nothing to feel bad about consulting a doctor about a headache. In fact many practitioners do a thriving business by setting up headache clinics g here and there. If you have a headache diary like the one we mentioned in the above point, it would be very useful to your doctor in reaching a good diagnosis.

    But you may however tell you doctor that the last thing you would prefer would be OTC medication. You know what OTC stands for don’t you? It stands for Over the Counter medication.

    Try to help your doctor reach a better diagnosis and follow the suggestions of your doctor as well.

    Give your doctor a complete list of the all the medicines that you consume. You have to remember that some of these medicines might be altering your vascular system leading to a headache.

    The medicines that you have to take particular not of are birth control pills, medicines for blood pressure and any hormone supplements.

92.
    Dress suitable when you are indoors as well as outdoors. Your choice of what to wear must be in complete harmony with the weather conditions and the temperature around you.

    You have to understand that too much is just as bad as too little. If you wrap yourself up tightly all the time you are in fact restricting the flow of blood to certain parts of the body.

Ties and scarves must be avoided as much a s possible and if you have to wear these, try to keep them as loose as possible without appearing too dowdy. 


93.
    While traveling be nice to your body and give it time to adjust to any time changes. For example if you are flying across the International Date Line, there is ever chance that you will experience what is popularly known as the jet lag. Give you body time to adjust to such uncommon things.

    Try your best to get the sleep that your body needs while you are traveling. Do not bury your nose in a book or watch a movie, SLEEP      

94.
    Know your sinus points and use the acupressure method to treat your self and rid yourself of the pain.

    The best thing about the acupressure method is that it has no side effects. It is something that you can do completely on your own and if you are doing it properly, you can get almost instant relief. I have described the steps in detail in the points that follow, try doing it and I promise you, you will be glad that you did it.

1.    First of all you have to get a clear idea of where your sinuses really are.

2.    For this I recommend that you lie down on a flat surface preferably without the support of a pillow.

3.    The next thing you should do is run your fingers gently over your face, taking note of the various rises and falls.

4.    Now let your fingers linger in the portion above your eyes but just below the eyebrow.

5.    Feel the bone over there and let you fingers sense out a notch in that bone.

6.    This space extends from there towards the nasal bone.

7.    This is your first sinus point

8.    Now let your fingers trail down further till they reach the depressions if we can call them that on both sides of the nose halfway between the eyes and your mouth. This is your second sinus point.

9.    Now what you have to do is apply pressure to these sinus points.

10.    You have to be careful when you do this and please take care to use only the soft balls of your fingers and not the tips, which may have long nails.

11.    First of all apply pressure gently.

12.    You might experience a particular pricking sensation as you do.

13.    If it hurts, you may stop immediately.

14.    If not you may continue applying more and more pressure till you can tolerate it.

15.    Then gently let go and lie there fore a minute experiencing the pain fading away.

16.    Repeat this with the second sinus point.

17.    A point that you may bear in mind is that if your sinuses are infected these regions will be slightly swollen.  

95.
    Exercise is a good way to prevent headaches. Exercise is a wonderful way of increasing the blood flow to the various organs and parts of your body. So if you can develop a regular exercise pattern, you will in fact be ensuring a better blood circulation and proper supply of oxygen to the various cells of the body.

However, it goes without saying that you should not try to exercise if you are already experiencing a headache. 

As I mentioned earlier, a couple of centuries ago, people were involved in a lot of manual labor.

This gave their bodies all the exercise that was needed. But due to the changed life styles, most of us do not have to engage in strenuous work. Most of us sit in front of computers all day long or engage in such sedentary works.

    Work out, it’s good for you.

    When we think about the life in the country, there is always something rosy about it. What is it that the people in the country have that we do not? When you ponder about it you find that those lucky souls eat good food, they work really hard, by work I mean real physical work and they have good night’s sleep. Of course they do not have all the amenities and facilities that the city life has to offer.

But the city life comes with a lot of strings attached. People in the cities are generally less healthy than the people in the country. One of the reasons is pollution of course but the other reason is because people in the city do not get enough exercise. 

Now, when I talk about healthy bodies please make no mistake about what I am referring to. I am not talking about the Mr. Universe kind of body, the bodies that we see on WWF.

 I am talking about people who are fit. And fitness and exercise are just two sides of the same coin. They both go hand in hand.

In order to stay fit you need exercise and in order to exercise you need to be fit. But just because you are not fit now, it does not mean that you shouldn’t exercise.

 And just like that, just because you do not have any visible excess fat on your body right now, it does not mean that you need no exercise. Exercise is the best way to keep obesity, cardio vascular disorders, hypertension and all those lifestyle-related disorders under control.

First of all let us get one point straight, exercise does not necessarily mean pumping metal. If you do have the time to go to a gymnasium everyday, then that is well and good. 

But I suppose most of us do not have the time for a regular work out in a gym. So the other alternative is to do it at home of course. 

But whether it is at home or at a multi-gym, there is something that I want to tell you. Whatever you are doing, you must try and do it regularly.

Regularity is very important for an exercise routine to have the desired effect on our body. Getting started is the easy part, it is sticking to a regular exercise routine that is difficult and this is what makes most people give up in between.

    Most people get on to a beautiful start. They buy tracksuits and gym-wear, running shoes and a whole lot of other gear. Their first day at the gym is almost a celebration.

Then as the days go on, they find it increasingly difficult to meet the domestic and professional demands and so their routine slows down and finally comes to a complete workout burn out. In other words, the stop working out completely

It is a universal fact that the most chosen time for workouts is the evenings. If you can stick to work out in the evenings then it is well and good. But most of us find ourselves exhausted in the evenings. We find ourselves physically and mentally drained. And at that time our bodies will be just too tired for a work out.

The result is that after the first few days of working out, the interest just dwindles away. The other reason is that in the evenings a thousand and one things may crop up and then there is hardly time for a warm up. So it is best to set aside some time for exercise in the morning itself.

There are two advantages of setting apart time in the morning. The first advantage is that in the morning our bodies are fresh and full of energy. Now over here I want to make one point clear.

There is a popular misconception that exercise depletes the body of energy but the case is just the opposite. Exercise pumps up more blood through the different parts of the body and warms up the body, so in fact, after exercise we feel more charged and ready to face the challenges of the day. 

The second advantage is that in the morning we can plan for the whole day without letting the exercise routine affect the rest of our activities.

What about those of us who have never worked out before? In such cases you might need to start off under the personal supervision of an instructor and that may require that you go to a gym. But what I would suggest is that there are two simple things that any one can do for which you do not need the help of any instructor.

You know what these are? They are walking and swimming. Any body can walk and those of you who know how to swim can swim. For these two activities you do not need much gear and experts say that these two exercises have no side effects and are excellent stress busters.

So in the morning wake up just half an hour earlier, put on your walking shoes and hit the roads. Most roads will be less crowded at this hour and less polluted too. It is a wonderful way to start a day. Below I have included some points on how to start and maintain a good exercise routine.

96.
    Stretch your self every now and then. Never let cramps set in. If you feel that you have been in a position for too long, get and stretch yourself. Rub your hands and feet and the muscles of your neck to boost up the circulation.  

97.
    An exercise that will help you get rid of a tension related headache. This is an exercise that is usually done by an expert but I assure you that it is perfectly safe to do it on your own as well.
 
1.    Place your right hand on the top of your head or let it rest on your forehead.

2.    Now gently turn your head towards the right. This will clear the left side of your neck so that your left hand can have easy access to it.

3.    Now place the palm of your left hand on the back of your neck and let your fingers try to sense out any muscle that is particularly taut.

4.    For this, all you have to do is let your fingers creep along your neck like the legs of a spider but with a little more force.

5.    When you have found a tight muscle, gently apply pressure on it using the soft balls of your fingers.

6.    As you apply pressure, breathe in air and hold the air for ten to twenty seconds.

7.    As you hold the air, the application of pressure must continue.

8.    Concentrate on the releasing of the tension of that muscle.

9.    Convince your mind that all the toxins that were pent up in that muscle have now been released.

10.    When you feel that the muscle has relaxed, release your grip and at the same time breathe out through your mouth, feeling that all the toxins have been released from your body.

11.    Repeat the exercise on the same side of your neck and try to find another muscle.

12.    In this way continue till all the muscles on the left side are done.

13.    Now repeat this exercise with right side of your neck and using your right hand this time.

98.
    Measure your migraine.  Your migraine can be measure in terms of the following criteria

§    Frequency:  How often do you get the migraine?

§    Intensity: How severe is the pain? You can measure this yourself using a 5-point scale. 0 stands for no pain at all, while 5 means that you have the worst pain that you have ever had.

§    Duration: How long does the pain last. Does it go by itself or you have to get a deep sleep before you get any relief.

§    Medication: Do you have to take any medicines before you get any relief from it and if you have to do how many medicines do you take and in what quantity?

99.
Here are some more exercises for that tension headache...

    You have to understand that the tension headache comes purely from tight cervical and neck muscles. When muscles become tight, what actually happens is that lactic acid gets accumulated in them.

    Under ordinary conditions, when a muscle works, glucose gets converted into carbon dioxide and water. The blood easily removes these two waste materials.

But when a muscle has to work for too long or for tow hard the energy demand is too high that the cells do not get time to convert glucose fully into carbon dioxide and water. Instead the glucose is converted into another substance that is lactic acid.

    The problem with lactic acid is that it restricts further movement of the muscles and this results in muscular cramps. In such conditions application of a little bit of pressure can help the muscles release the pent up lactic acid.  When the cervical and neck muscles get accumulated with lactic acid, it often results in a headache. The exercise that is described below can prove to be very effective.

1.    Turn on the shower and direct the flow of the stream of water onto the back of your neck

2.    Now turn your head as if you are trying to see who is behind you.

3.    Stand like this for one or two minute.

4.    Then repeat the exercise but looking in the opposite side this time. 

100.
    Take a 20 minute power nap during your lunch break.  You will wake up refreshed and without as many worries.

101.
    Eat organic foods.  Many foods, especially produce and meats contain pesticides and hormones that are not good for the body.  More and more stores are carrying organic foods that are safer for your body and reduce the number of foreign chemicals entering into your bloodstream.  If your local grocery store does not carry any of these food items, check to see if your city has an organic store somewhere else.