According to the American Headache Society (AHS), 90 percent of men and 95 percent of women have at least one headache a year. It’s safe to say that headaches are a common ailment that we experience as a part of the everyday stresses in our lives. There are three main types of headaches, the most frequent being tension headaches. Tension headaches are steady, gripping pain felt on both sides of the head or neck. Migraines entail a throbbing, localized pain experienced usually with sensitivity to light and sound. Cluster headaches are rare and severe, but brief, targeting around one eye that becomes red and watery. No matter what type of headache you’re experiencing, they all come with pain, discomfort and disruption. Spending your day in a dark room, trying to avoid triggers is no way to live.
There are many ways to reduce headache pain. You can take medications, but they can only temporarily relieve you from the agony and strain. What about preventing it from ever starting? Some natural remedies include eating well, getting enough sleep and exercising regularly. But, sometimes you can do everything right and still not see the pain subsiding. That’s when you call us! The following natural headache remedies could be your answer to relief and alleviation.
Manage Your Stress
When you feel overworked, tired, stressed out and worried, headaches are bound to be hiding right around the corner. Lightening your stress load or changing the way you cope with stress could be the answer to relieving your headaches. Yoga, meditation and aerobic exercise are all great ways to relax your mind and body, but sometimes your brain can be the problem.
We store a lot of stress in our head and neck muscles. This tension on the nervous system causes brainwave imbalance, making it impossible for you to relax. Biofeedback brain training is a drugless, painless technology that’s often used to identify the source of your tension and help train your brain to control that tension, anxiety, and stress that can lead to headaches. Since removing the source of the tension has little effect in correcting the imbalance in your brainwaves, BrainCore is used to teach you how to produce more alpha waves, enabling your brain to relax. When your brain relaxes, your muscles won’t tense up and you can experience the relief that you deserve.
Food & Caffeine
Sometimes certain foods can act as triggers for your headaches. Some common ones include wheat, oranges, dairy, corn, tea and coffee. There are a lot of foods that people eat and don’t know that they are susceptible to getting migraines or headaches by eating them. The trick is to find the foods that trigger your pain and avoid them. It’s helpful to record what foods you eat and at what times you experience your headaches in a diary.
Caffeine is a little more tricky. For people who don’t drink substances with caffeine in them very often, it can often be helpful in relieving headache pain. That’s why a lot of medications contain caffeine in them. However, regular coffee consumption and withdrawal from caffeine can often cause headaches as well. Experts generally recommend that people who experience frequent headaches reduce or eliminate caffeine consumption completely.
Unclog Your Energy Pathways
It may sound odd to some, but acupuncture is actually a widely used form of natural treatment and prevention for headaches. Sometimes meridians (or energy pathways) that are in your body get disrupted or clogged. This can cause a variety of health problems since your body is now imbalanced and your energy is blocked up. Acupuncture helps loosen the jam to your energy flow that could be causing your headaches, allowing the energy to circulate properly throughout your body.
Subluxations & Chiropractic
Subluxations are when spinal bones in the neck are not supporting the head properly due to poor alignment. This improper position can affect the nerve communication between your brain and body. Many people are surprised to learn that their headaches can be caused by problems in their neck and back! Your upper spine compensates by shifting your head off center, causing the tension and pain in your head. If a chiropractor finds subluxations present in your body, you can definitely benefit from chiropractic adjustments. These adjustments will add motion to your body and unstick your joints, essentially reducing and preventing your headache pain.
Don’t let another headache ruin your day. Finding the remedy that works for your body is a process that may take time, but will ultimately benefit you in the long run. It may seem unlikely, but a chiropractor can help! Contact Parkside today to schedule an appointment, so that we can find the underlying cause of your headaches, treat them, and prevent them from coming back again.