This Is The Easiest & Most Relaxing Way To Stop A Headache Right In Its Tracks
Nothing can put a massive dent in your day quite like a banger of a headache: that shooting pain behind your eyes, the thumping that almost feels like the bass in a song. It all comes together to make even the tiniest tasks feel utterly impossible. When you're prone to chronic headaches, you'll do just about anything to get rid of them. From painkillers to meditation, there are tons of ways to soothe a headache that won't go away. But if you've never tried taking a bath to help a headache, you might be missing out on an essential strategy.
Taking a hot bubble bath might just be able to cure that headache that's been plaguing you for hours, and it mostly has to do with the heat. According to Mayo Clinic, temperature therapy is a very real way in which some people cure their headache woes, and taking a hot bath definitely counts as a type of temperature therapy. When you have a headache or a migraine, the best way to solve it is to find a calm environment to soothe your head, and relax your tense muscles.
Taking a bath works to relax your muscles, which might just ease the sensation of pain in your head, too.
Taking a hot bath has also been known to make it easier for people to fall asleep, which would surely be a welcome event when your head is killing you. One way to take your bath experience to the next level would be to add epsom salts to the tub. Epsom salts are filled with magnesium, which has been associated with a number of health benefits, including its ability to work as a potential remedy for headaches, according to Healthline.
But taking a bath isn't the only form of temperature therapy that might work to cure your headache, and it's not just hot temperatures that can help.
Temperature therapy works in both ways, according to Mayo Clinic, so it might be time to bring out that ice pack from the freezer.
While some people enjoy taking hot showers or baths, or using hot water bottles as a means to relieving pain, others like to go the opposite route, using an ice pack on their head to give a numbing effect to the pain.
What's more, sleeping in a colder room (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Simplemost) is the ideal temperature for you to get a good night's sleep, and getting good rest via sleep is one of the major ways to combat consistent migraines, according to 2013 research published in the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports.
If you keep having headaches no matter how many epsom salt baths you take, it might be time to consider the cold route of temperature therapy, or another strategy altogether that has nothing to do with temperature.
The best way to attack head pain is to keep track of when and where it tends to happen.
By tracking your head pain (and the attempted solutions), you can slowly tick off possible reasons for the pain. For example, if you get a headache whenever you're super hungry, it could be due to low blood sugar. Or, if you get a headache at the end of the day and realize you've only had a glass of water, there's a good chance it has something to do with dehydration. Above all, make sure you talk to a medical professional about it, especially if your headaches are getting in the way of your life on a frequent basis.
For now, you might as well take a hot bath. Even if you don't have a headache, soaking up the bubbles after a long day is always an amazing way to relax.