10 Useful Answers to Your Aches

How many times have you reached for a medication when your head or your stomach hurt? Do you think about what those meds can do to you? Sure, they help you with the pain, but taking them too often could have long term consequences on your health. Why don’t you try something else instead?

I’d like to give you two lists of 5 useful answers to two most common aches – head ache and stomach ache. They are all natural remedies which might just work better than drugs. However, if your pain is persistent make sure you visit your doctor in order to exclude the possibility of a serious illness.

Headache Remedies:

asian woman with headache

1. Coffee

Most of us reach for a cup of coffee as soon as we wake up. It helps us clear our heads and get ready for work. Furthermore, coffee can be a great ally when it comes to curing headache. The caffeine amount from just one cup of coffee could just bring you relief from a mild headache. However, do not reach for coffee every time your head hurts, because caffeine has a lot of side effects. Find out all about them in 10 Coffee Side Effects for Women post.

2. Hot Water

Believe it or not, a bottle of hot water could help you even in cases of severe headaches, like migraine.  Among many theories about how migraines appear, is the one that says that it happens due to the shrinking of blood vessels in your neck. Your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen then, and your head starts to hurt.

Try this – fill a plastic bottle with hot (not boiling) water. Put it on your bed and lie down so that the bottle is positioned behind your neck. The warmth of the water will make your blood vessels expand and the blood flow to your brain will increase. You should start feeling better very soon.

3. Oxygen

As I already mentioned that headaches appear because of lack of oxygen in your brain – the conclusion draws itself. Try to get more oxygen. Go out, preferably to a park or woods and take deep breaths. The more oxygen you breathe in, the less your head will hurt.

4. Massage

Beautiful Young Girl with Soft Lips

Using a massage as a remedy for headache is quite individual. Sometimes it can help, while sometimes it only increases the pain. In any case, as soon as you start feeling a headache, give yourself a neck massage. The effect is the same as with hot water – the massage will heat up the blood vessels in your neck and increase the blood flow to your brain.

5. Yoga

Generally speaking yoga is very good for you. It improves the overall state of your body and your mind as well. Furthermore, it is very beneficial when it comes to curing headaches. However, yoga is not an acute remedy. You can’t really start doing yoga and expect your existent headache to go away. But, practicing yoga on a regular basis will surely lower the appearance, as well as the intensity of your headaches over time.

Stomach Ache Remedies:

1. Mint Tea

Mint Tea with honey stick

It’s probably the first thing that crosses everyone’s mind – mint tea is the most common homemade remedy for stomach ache. It’s best to buy organic mint, or even better to grow it yourself. Just take one teaspoon of leaves and put them in a cup of boiled water. Leave for 5-10 minutes, strain and drink unsweetened. If you’re not a fan of the tea – chewing on fresh mint leaves also helps.

2. Ginger

People have noticed ginger’s benefits a very long time ago and have been using them ever since. It’s a good idea to include ginger in your general diet, because it acts like prevention from stomach ache. If you want an acute remedy – take one or 2” pieces of fresh ginger root, peel it and slice it. Bring 2 cups of water to boil, add sliced ginger and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Strain and drink warm.

3. Ripe Banana

Believe it or not, this advice actually comes from a friend of mine who’s a doctor. One ripe banana can very well free you from your stomach ache. Bananas contain potassium which relieves stomach cramps. The tiny seed and the fibers from bananas help your bowel movement and thus improve your digestion.

4. Yogurt

Beautiful Young Girl Drinking Yogurt

Yogurt is your best ally if you want a healthy stomach. Drinking yogurt on daily basis improves your digestion and can even boost your metabolism. Drinking one cup of yogurt when you’re experiencing stomach pain might as well bring you instant relief.
Yogurt contains lactic acid bacteria that improve your digestion, and probiotic yogurts contain probiotic cultures that are essential for having a healthy stomach.

5. Beer

Now this is one thing that I couldn’t believe when I heard it. My boyfriend actually always claimed that beer relieves him from stomach ache, but I always thought he’s just using that as an excuse because he likes beer. But then I heard a story of a doctor who prescribed one glass of beer daily to a guy who had been suffering from stomach aches for years before that.

He got better after only one week, so it might as well work. However, keep in mind that beer is not really the best choice if you’re trying to lose weight – so you might try one of the previous remedies.

If you’ve already tried these remedies, I’d like to hear your experience. Also, if you know about any other remedy – you’re more than welcome to share it with the rest of us.

About the author

Sarah

I’m a free spirit who likes to travel, cook and fly. Licensed paraglider pilot, I spend all my spare time flying. In the meantime, I like to share my recipes and travel experiences.

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