Olivia Murphy from
Inner Me reveals five natural ways to say goodbye to headaches as featured on
Natural Health.
Don’t let persistent headaches get you down. Here are five ways to say goodbye to temple pain…
1. Identify your trigger foods
A number of foods are known to provoke headaches. The most common
culprits are dairy products, chocolate, refined sugar, foods with MSG,
gluten and caffeinated drinks.
Everyone is different – the only way to get to the bottom of what foods
are triggering your headaches is to eliminate all possible trigger foods
and then slowly introduce them one by one to see how your body reacts.
Here at Inner Me however, we do NOT advocate cutting out entire food
groups – many of the aforementioned ‘trigger’ foods are actually highly
nutritious! Keep a food diary to log how each food affects your body,
but do not think that by cutting out gluten and dairy (just because your
best friend is intolerant!) is going to work for you. Listen to your
body, identify your triggers and then consume them in moderate,
controlled amounts.
2. Drink more water
Not drinking enough water is one of the most common causes of
headaches. Some experts believe that headaches can be caused by the
blood vessels in your head becoming narrow in an attempt to regulate
your body’s fluid levels. Dehydration caused by alcohol consumption
plays a major role in hangover headaches too
Try to drink four to six glasses of the good stuff a day.
3. Move more
Move your body as much as possible! This is especially important for
those who work in an office and barely move out of their seat. Getting
your blood flowing can help prevent headaches and increase your
productivity. We love office yoga sessions at Inner Me - not only do
these classes calm mind, body and soul, but they're the perfect way to
release stress caused by muscle tension (especially if you're hunched
over your desk glaring into that computer screen all day!). Stretches
will help prevent neck and shoulder pain that can cause a blockage of
blood supply to your head and create a nagging headache. What’s more,
our emotions have as much power over us as our physical ailments. If
you’re stressed out on a day-to-day basis, meditation and breathing
exercises explored in yoga are very beneficial.
4. Be good to your gut
If you haven’t ever encountered poor
digestive health or slow bowel movements – you are in the minority. More
and more people are experiencing bloating, symptoms of IBS and poor
digestion. Constipation in particular can be caused by stress, and can
be stressful itself. Also if you tend to skip meals due to the bloating
or nausea you feel because of your constipation, your blood sugar levels
could be low – which can trigger a headache. Try taking a probiotic
supplement or eat probiotic rich foods to optimise absorption of
nutrients in your gut.
5. Boost your vitamin uptake
Vitamin deficiency symptoms can range from physical ailments to
emotional issues – and can include headaches, or headache-inducing
stress. A common cause of anemia, for example, is lack of iron, B12 and
vitamin C and one of the symptoms of this is a daily headache. Problems
of this sort may be tied to diet. For instance, vegetarians and vegans
must make sure that they consume B12 from other sources than meat, and
the diary intolerant must consume calcium, vitamin D and C from other
sources too.
