Occasionally taking a pill to treat a headache is perfectly reasonable. However, there are other, less toxic, quicker, and cheaper ways to treat a headache than simply popping a pill. Before you attempt to treat a headache, make sure you know the basics. If you’re ready to learn more about natural headache treatments read on.

You can leap right into testing different natural headache treatments such as aromatherapy, massage, or acupressure, but that really wouldn’t be much different than jumping to the medicine cabinet to take a pill. There are some important first steps you can take that may solve your headaches without an actual headache treatment. These steps involve taking a look at your current life, at the world around you, and thinking about what small helpful adjustment can be made.

The Root of Your Headache

It’s been reported that almost 90% of headaches are caused by stress or tension. With odds like this there’s a good chance your headache is caused by…guess what? Stress or tension. Do you have an especially stressful job or an agitating home problem? If so, then pinpointing the root of your headache may be easy. For some though, a subtle life stressor could be causing headaches. To really get to the root of your headaches a simple headache diary is in order. A headache diary, sometimes called a headache calendar or log, is the most useful for individuals who have reoccurring headaches. Log the following in your headache diary:

• Sleep patterns: Logging your sleep pattern includes when you fall asleep and wake up. If you’re restless at night or taking afternoon naps you should log that as well.
• Diet patterns: Log your daily meals, beverages (including alcohol), and snacks.
• Medication and vitamin patterns: Log all types of ingested medications and the time of day you take them.
• Exercise patterns: Log how often, when, and where you exercise.
• Women should log menstrual cycles, as hormonal changes can cause headaches.

Sound like work? It can be. But a headache diary can really help to target headache triggers. Maybe your head starts to ache each day around 6pm. At 5pm what were you up to? Were you stuck in traffic trying to get home from work; at the gym working out harder than usual? Or maybe you have a nice trigger snack of nuts each day at 5pm. Once you know your triggers you can try to adjust your schedule or cut out potential culprits. If you have trouble pinpointing a specific trigger event take the diary with you to your next check-up because your doctor may see something you don’t.

Emotions:

Emotions aren’t standard headache diary protocol; but they are worth looking at. We all know that heavy emotions can cause stress, anxiety, and of course, a range of other side issues. A relationship that’s going poorly is an obvious stress inducer. But other life events, both positive and negative, can cause you to feel heavy emotions as well. Starting college, big projects at work, falling in love, too much partying (or maybe, not enough), my, I mean, your in-laws, and much more can induce stress and headaches. Getting to the root of your emotions won’t cure your headaches – but it can give you a good starting point. Once you know your emotional triggers ideally you can work on that, instead of simply treating and re-treating the headaches your emotions may be causing.

Glasses Anyone?

One headache cure that is often overlooked is the common eye exam. Poor eyesight can bring on the headaches. You may just need a new or updated prescription for glasses or contacts. Need another reason to go get your eyes checked out; a recent study by Reuters Health in Neurology, (May 15, 2007) noted that middle aged individuals with frequent headaches were 74-79% more likely to show signs of retinopathy than other individuals. Retinopathy is a general term that covers any disorder of the retina. Specifically some forms of retinopathy are very damaging, but treatable if you visit your eye doctor. Your headaches may be a blessing in disguise.

Driving

Driving is one of my personal headache inducers. For whatever reason, I tend to slouch to my left side when I drive. This is horrible on my back and neck and will cause a headache if I’m in the car too long. But when I pay attention to my posture and sit up straight – no back or neck pain and no headaches. Maybe you do this. Maybe you do something else equally as bad. Are you on the phone and trying to eat while you drive? Multitasking while driving can cause your body to slump and slouch into all kinds of unnatural position.

Do you get overly agitated with other drivers? Okay, who doesn’t get overly agitated with other drivers nowadays – but seriously, stress and clenched jaws are going to do little more than cause you a headache. You being mad at the other drivers won’t actually fix the fact that most people can’t drive well. You may as well focus your energy on personal health and try to relax. Listen to your favorite music or radio show and chill. If possible, spend less time in your car altogether. Walking can remedy headaches by getting you out of the car and exercise helps to lower stress levels and lowered stress levels help to elevate headaches – so less driving can be a merry cycle of win-win situations. Give it a try.

Rest

Rest is a simple headache trigger to pinpoint. You know always know when you haven’t had enough rest because odds are you’re tired, cranky, or having trouble concentrating. A lack of rest can cause major stress on your body and mind; and as noted above stress causes what? That’s right headaches. There’s no perfect sleep pattern. Individuals need varying amounts to feel at their best. I can get by on five hours while my partner is the ultimate grouch if he sleeps a minute less than eight hours. That old rule you’ve heard about catching up on sleep. It’s not true. You can never actually catch up on lost zzzz’s. Get the sleep you need to function tonight; not tomorrow.

What’s Next?

After you take a good look at some of these basic life issues you may or may not have come to a conclusion about what is causing your headaches. If you have an inkling, but aren’t sure, you can do one of two things. You can take another look at what’s going on in your life. You may have missed something the first time. You can also call your doctor and schedule an appointment so that you can get some assistance with your headache detective work.

These first steps are just that, first steps. If you can get to the root of your headache and work on solving whatever your personal root is, great. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work you may still get headaches. Then it may be time to look at treatment options. Natural headache treatments abound and because they’re usually less evasive than medical treatments, natural can be a great way to go. Coming up soon… Natural headache treatments including: diet adjustments, exercise, aromatherapy, massage, and much more.