18 Everyday Habits That Can Relieve Pain in Your Body
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Reaching out for a painkiller to cure that headache? Or an ointment for the back or neck pain? Stop yourself now! Even though these are effective remedies, painkillers have their own side effects with addiction being one of the main problems. As for ointments, well, don’t they stain your clothes and make them smell?
Really, the only remedy you need for any kind of common body ache you experience is a change of habit – there lies the true cure! Here are 18 daily habits that can help you cure all kinds of body pains:
Headaches
1. Avoid Staring At Screens At A Stretch
Staring at the computer screen can cause eyestrain, which can lead to headaches (1). To cure this kind of a headache, follow the 20:20:20 rule. This rule states one must take a break of 20 seconds to stare at something 20 feet away once in every 20 minutes (2).
2. Don’t Go Out In The Sun
Excess sun exposure dilates your brain’s blood vessels and increases the temperature of your skin, leading to throbbing headaches (3). Simply limiting your sun exposure and wearing shades can help.
3. Shower With Warm Water
Warm showers are relaxing and can release the tension in your body as well as head, thereby providing headache relief (4).
4. Don’t Smoke Or Drink
Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is vasoactive in nature as it in alters your brain’s blood vessel size, causing headaches (5). Alcohol too leads to a swelling of your brain’s blood vessels. However, red wine is the worst culprit when it comes to alcohol-induced headaches (6). Hence, avoiding smoking or drinking can prevent headaches.
5. Limit Caffeine Consumption
When had in tiny amounts, caffeine can provide headache relief. However, having too much caffeine can cause an addiction, which when you try to quit can lead to withdrawal symptoms such as headaches (7). So, you know what to do!
6. Drink Plenty Of Water
Of the many causes of headaches, dehydration is a common one (8). You can prevent and even relieve such headaches by simply keeping yourself hydrated!
Neck Pain
7. Exercise
Exercising the muscles in your neck will make them stronger, which will reduce the effect of shoulder and neck strain – the commonest cause of pain in these areas (9).
8. Improve Your Sitting Posture
If you slouch at your desk, neck pain is an eventuality (10). That’s why it’s crucial to keep your back straight while sitting. You can also adjust your computer and your chair’s back support to prevent and heal pain.
9. Do Yoga
Not only is yoga a stress buster and tension reliever, it also helps in increasing the strength of your back and neck muscles (11).
10. Change Your Sleeping Posture
Awkward sleeping positions are a major contributor to neck pain. Prevention is possible though (12). You simply have to sleep either on your back or on your side. To give your neck some extra support as you snore, put either a rolled-up towel or a small pillow below your knees. Orthopedic pillows can help too.
Back Pain
11. Always Sit Straight
Bending forward or maintaining a half-sleeping posture in your chair increases the pressure on your spine and causes a backache. You can reduce this by always sitting straight (13).
12. Stretch Muscles In The Lower Back
Several exercises can help you do this. Some of the effective ones include a psoas stretch and laying-spinal twists, all of which can help dramatically decrease back pain.
13. Do A Hamstring Stretch
Stretching your hamstring muscles is an easy way to get back pain relief. You can do that by stretching your thighs while laying flat on the floor.
14. Try The Cobra Pose
A common pose in exercising, it is particularly effective in dealing with back pain. It causes the muscles in your shoulder to stretch and reduces lower back stiffness while strengthening your spine.
15. Swim
Whether it’s swimming or any other form of aquatic exercise, as long as you do it, you will make your core and back muscles stronger (14). Swimming also releases stress, so it’s definitely worth a shot!
Foot Ache
16. Switch Your Shoes
Ditch the heels and slip your feet into trainers or other comfy shoes for foot ache relief! The wrong kind of shoes can strain your feet, so wearing the right kind is very important.
17. Perform An Arch Massage
To do this exercise, take a tennis ball and stand over it. Now roll the ball across the length of your feet in a slow fashion for around 3 minutes. Repeat with the other foot.
18. Massage The Muscles In Your Feet
While sitting on your chair, raise your right leg and rest it on your left knee. Now interlock the fingers of your hands with your toes and squeeze them for 10 seconds before releasing. Do the same with the wide portion of your feet.
See how you easily you can cure every kind of common body ache? There’s no need to resort to drugs as long as drug-free alternatives exist!
