If there’s anything all of us have experienced at some point in our lives, it would be that irritating, mood and day destroyer, migraine, or headache. A headache is prevalent, and this can attack you any time of the day and wherever you are. It will come to you without even so much as a warning. A headache can come from different kinds of causes, and there are also different kinds of treatments for it.
While some would “sleep off” their headache, others would take an analgesic to soothe the pain. But, you don’t always have to try to ignore the pair or rely on medications. There are treatments that you can decide which can be safer. So before you go to the nearest drug store to buy some pain killers, you might want to try these simple home treatments for headaches.
Change Your Diet
Some changes in the diet have been a simple and effective treatment to help reduce migraine pain and headache, especially for those who experience them more frequently. Some foods can affect the severity of the headaches and how often a migraine attack. These foods include peanut butter, chocolate, dairy products, hot dogs, bacon, and some fruits like citrus, banana, and avocado.
Food which contains monosodium glutamate or MSG and tyramine, fermented and pickled products can also affect how sharp the pain will be and how often you will have a headache. A change in your diet doesn’t mean you have to eliminate all of those from your food list. You have to lessen them in your diet.
Give Your Scalp a Massage
We know that massage has been a known remedy for a raging headache, especially the use of reflexology, where they massage your “reflex points” on your hands and feet to alleviate the pain. A self-massage can be very useful, even more so when you know what part of your head, you have to focus on.
A study done in Brazil showed that when you massage that part on the back of your head where you can find the greater occipital nerve and at the base of the skull, it could be a big help in relieving your migraine or headache. No need to call anyone, you can do it by yourself. And the good thing is, it’s for free!
Use Aromatherapy
When you have a headache, it would seem like your whole body tenses up. This is why some people would try very hard to relax and even sleep off the pain. Aromatherapy would make it much easier for you to relax, while also helping alleviate your pain. There are so many essential oils you could choose from, and here are two of them:
Lavender oil is one home remedy you can use as aromatherapy for headaches. It smells lovely, making this the right choice. You can use lavender oil in two ways; you can either inhale it or topically apply it. Put two to three drops of lavender oil in every two to three cups of boiling water, which is the recommended amount when inhaling it. You don’t have to dilute this because it is safe to use for external applications. Just remember that this is not for oral ingestion.
Peppermint oil is another very soothing remedy you can safely use at home. This is very effective in treating tension headaches. This refreshing oil can cause both vasodilation and vasoconstriction, which can help our body to have better blood flow. The pain from migraine and headache is most of the time caused by reduced blood flow.
Peppermint oil can help in opening or closing the blood vessels for the blood to flow better. It can also help the sinuses to open so that you can inhale more oxygen.
But if you think your headache is too intense for simple home remedies to handle, you can buy a pain medication or visit your doctor, whichever would work best for you. Just keep in mind that you healthily manage your pain.
