Why do I keep getting headaches? Here are 4 simple solutions.
Chronic headaches affect more than 45 million Americans each year, or about 1 out of every six people! Chronic headaches can be a life-interrupting affliction that causes discomfort, inconvenience, and poor health outcomes over time. If you’re suffering from regular headaches and find yourself asking “why do I keep getting headaches?” Here are 4 simple solutions that you can use to help achieve much-needed relief. Read on to learn more about how you can help prevent and recover from regular headaches.
Get plenty of rest, preferably in the dark.
Headaches can be exacerbated or caused by a lack of rest. When the body is overworked (mentally or physically), the strain can force the body to become depleted. If the body continues to work without rest, the depletion can begin to remove resources from the body which causes pain and discomfort. Headaches can be one of the most common side effects of sleep and rest deprivation.
To combat the effects of sleep and rest deprivation, It’s important to make up for lost rest. Make time to relax, ideally in a dark, quiet environment. Lights are typically stimulating to the nervous system and can strain the eyes and nerves of the head and face, worsening headaches. This includes blue lights from cell phones. The best thing that you can do when suffering from a headache that is in progress (currently occurring) is to eliminate all lights from electronic devices (cell phones, TV, tablet, etc.) as well as natural light from outdoors (close curtains, pull blinds, etc).
Oftentimes, regular, intentional rest that is intended to help you catch up on sleep and decrease stress can help to significantly reduce or eliminate headaches that originate from sleep deprivation.
Drink enough water and replenish your electrolytes.
Another common cause of headaches is dehydration. When you’re dehydrated, your body, cells, and nervous system are severely taxed. Hydration is required to ensure that cells are repairing themselves correctly and that the body is able to recover from injuries and stress. If you’re not drinking enough water, toxins may be accumulating in your body that are unable to be expelled. This can cause cellular disruptions that lead to over-toxicity, and as a result, headaches and other symptoms of discomfort.
In order to remedy dehydration, ensure that you are drinking plenty of fresh, clean water without additives. In addition to plain water (with no dyes, additives, carbonation, or flavors), consider including electrolytes as part of your fluid intake. Electrolytes play a very important role in helping to balance the function of fluid in your body. Electrolytes regulate the positive and negative electrical charge of your body’s cells, which, when disrupted, can contribute to headaches.
Reduce stress.
Although it may seem to go without saying, it’s easy to forget the toxic role that stress plays in our bodies and our daily lives. Stress can change the hormonal balance in our bodies, the chemical processes, and the immune system’s ability to defeat invaders and maintain homeostasis. Stress can come in a variety of forms, including physical and mental. Both physical and mental stress (which includes emotions) can create imbalances in the body and nervous system. This can lead to headaches, migraines, exhaustion, fatigue, anxiety, and a variety of other maladies.
Reducing stress is critical for health and wellness, particularly if you’re experiencing a chronic condition like headaches. In order to reduce negative symptoms and increase overall health and vitality, become aware of which environments, tasks, obligations, and individuals are adding stress to your life, and reduce your exposure to them. This will help your body return to a normalized and balanced state, and help to eliminate uncomfortable conditions like recurring headaches.
Seek chiropractic care.
As you actively work to reduce stress, stay hydrated, and rest, consider seeking chiropractic care to help balance your body and proactively accelerate your healing and recovery process. Chiropractic care works on the central nervous system, which comprises the brain and spine, and is a major player in the scheme of headaches. If you’re experiencing recurring headaches and can’t seem to feel relief, chiropractic care can help to correct the structure of your spine and improve your posture.
The improvement in spinal alignment can boost the function of the nervous system significantly and allow for better nerve energy circulation. When the electrical impulses of the nervous system are firing effectively, patients report experiencing a reduction or elimination of headaches completely, and improved cognition, clarity, and comfort in their bodies.
At North Alabama Spine and Rehab, we focus on helping your body recover after accident and injury, as well as treat pain, headaches, whiplash, and a variety of other conditions. To discover firsthand the difference that high-quality chiropractic care can make in your life, book your appointment today.
