Headaches can really limit your life. You’re tired of depending on pain-killers, Panadol, and other drugs for relief, only to find the pain returning in a short time.
Many people that battle regular headaches experience:
- Frustration, because they are less productive and less energized at work
- Anxiety, because their relationships with their loved ones are strained
- Less motivation to exercise and be active
- Irritability, being short-tempered, and ready to snap at people constantly
- Fatigue, low energy, and fatigue as a result of the pain
- Continual stress and worry, because the problem doesn’t ease off
1. Pain is NOT Normal
We have heard many, many people describe their regular migraine or headache as being normal. They’ll say something like, “It’s just a normal headache…” They are confusing what is common with what is normal.
There is no such thing as normal migraines or headaches.
Unless you’re a psyduck and your superpower is deriving from your headaches or migraines, there is nothing NORMAL about having it.
Yes, it is fairly common for people to experience pain of some kind in their lives, but they shouldn’t accept that as being a normal part of life, as something they have to put up with.
Just because something is common does make it normal.
Related Article: 5 Silent Ways PAIN May be Costing You
2. Headaches and Migraines are symptoms
This may sound a little strange, but your migraines and headaches are present in your life for a reason.
They serve a purpose, think of your headaches or migraines as a warning sign.
Pain and symptoms are messages signalling you to make a change. Prioritize your health and take action to improve the state of your health.
Types of Headaches
Here’s a list of common types of headaches:
- Tension Headaches
- Stress Headaches
- Sinus Headaches
- Cluster Headaches
- Rebound Headaches
- Migraine Headaches
Maybe you have been labelled with one of these types of headaches. While understanding the names and characteristics of the different types of headaches can be helpful, what is far more important is understanding what is causing your headache.
Tips on how to reduce your migraines and headaches
Here are a few basic tips and tactics that can reduce your experience of migraines and headaches, and improve your health in general.
While they may seem simple, it may take some discipline to apply them consistently in your life.
1) Move it or Lose it
Being sedentary for long periods of time can contribute to muscle tension and spinal stress. If you have to sit and face a computer for long periods of time, break that pattern by moving around as much and as often as you can.
Stand up, walk around and stretch at least one time per hour that you spend seated.
Related Article: 3 Simple Things to Improve Your Work Productivity in Office
2) Take Breaks Often
Prolonged periods of focused mental effort can also lead to mental stress and anxiety, which are leading causes of migraines and headaches. Take frequent breaks from your mental exertion. If you change your focus from the stressful, difficult thing you are working on to something more positive and soothing, even for a short while, you will feel better as a result.
Your mental focus has a profound effect on your physical status; change your focus and you change your health.
Related Resource: Managing Your Mental Stress
3) Reduce Your Caffeine Intake
Caffeine speeds up your nervous system and stimulates the stress response system in your brain. Eliminating caffeinated beverages from your diet will help you feel more at ease, relaxed and free, and as a result, reduce the ‘fuel’ for headache flare-ups.
Caffeine can also become addictive and lead to chemical changes in your brain that can be associated with headaches. Drink less coffee!
4) Limit Your Sugar Consumption
Consuming simple sugars regularly promotes an inflammatory state in your body. High levels of inflammation can increase the likelihood that you’ll experience flare-ups of pain, especially migraines and headaches.
Reduce your consumption of simple sugars including sweetened beverages (especially diet soft drinks, because contain artificial sweeteners), rice, bread, cookies, pastries, most packaged snack foods, and pasta.
Feel free to eat healthy carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables in abundance.
5) Drink Lots of Water
Drink one to two litres of water every day. Staying hydrated will have a profound, positive effect on how you feel and how you are performing in your life.
Stay hydrated!
Take the First Step
There is no reason to continue dealing with migraines and headaches.
Chiropractic has a long track record of helping people with many types of pain, symptoms, and health challenges.
“I have been living with constant neck and back ache for many years. I have previously consulted an orthopedist and went for physiotherapy. Due to my job as a lecturer; standing for prolong periods caused numbness in my right fingers and strained my lower back.
After few months of intensive treatment and prescribed exercise at home, I can feel that the numbness in my right hand is less obvious and my headaches have lessened.
I hope that through these treatments, my lower back problems will be resolved. “
– Mr Chua Boon Koon (Practice Member at Harbourfront)
Schedule a no-obligation spinal checkup to find the cause of your migraine or headache and to see if chiropractic is right for you.
It all starts with a checkup. Make a change today!
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