Shameem Akthar
It is one of the most common ailments,
and it has struck practically everybody, at some point in their life. For some
it is chronic and has specific trigger points. For others, a headache surfaces
rarely, but when it does, it can be equally limiting and discomfiting. With
other ailments you may wriggle out of commitments, but when you have a headache
most people around you expect you to continue with normal functioning as if the
headache is not there. So, despite its extremely painful nature, a headache is normally
not taken too seriously by others, despite each of us having been a victim to
it at some point in our lives and we all know how distracting its pain can be.
Shameem Akthar, yogacharya trained
with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, takes you through few lifestyle
triggers that provoke a headache. She also discusses lifestyle changes that may
help control future episodes.
1.
Posture problems
We do not realise how closely linked
posture is to many issues of the body. It impacts our respiration.
A bad posture could mean shallow
breathing, which in turn means stress for the body. This is also a contributor.
Again, a continued contracted posture
or any other improper postural habit, can contract the upper back so much so to
create an incipient neck problem. The pressure on the spinal nerves at the neck
could cause severe headaches.
Even the skin at the head (scalp) may
become contracted, leading to painful spasms (that try to release the
contraction), causing headaches.
This calls for serious postural
re-adjustments, through expert advice involving either a physiotherapist or a
therapists in postural sciences like the Alexander technique or other movement
therapies.
Sedentary living and working, plus the
nature of your profession, are all contributors towards postural stress. Most
jobs have a common, chronic ailment.
Identifying that and having a daily
physical programme that helps contain the postural issues, will go a long way
in offering relief. Doing exercise without first identifying your postural
issue can actually aggravate existing problems, since exercise does challenge
the spine.
If the spine is unable to meet the
challenge, you may be faced with unidentified pain, including at the head.
2.
Food could be the key
Food triggers have long been
associated with chronic headaches. Some well-known triggers are cheese or
chocolates. However, each victim of chronic headache may have specific,
individual triggers.
It is ideal to maintain a food diary
to collate information on food allergies that set you off. Also, read the
labels of packed food to identify these triggers.
In a more general way, improper eating
habits are also headache triggers. When the blood sugar dips drastically,
headache is the body's way of signalling distress. So, have regular eating
schedules. If your blood sugar tends to have sharp yo-yos ensure that you have
small, sensible meals throughout the day.
Do not eat immediately before a
work-out. This could be counterproductive. Also, eating high-sugar snacks will
cause blood sugar yo-yos, causing headache and dizziness. Instead, choosing
low-glycemic index foods will ensure a slow energy release in your blood, to
keep your energy high, and your head clear.
3.
Constipation connection
Being constipated is, for the body, a
highly toxic state. This often happens when you have overeaten, had late
dinner, or eat foods with too little fiber, have taken too less of good fats,
or are very stressed or are dehydrated (not drinking enough fluids or hydrating
foods like curd).
Other lesser known, but equally
important causes, include lack of exercise, travel (using strange loos, for
some), medication and excessive use of external laxatives. When you are
stressed -- and this could be something simple as waking up late and rushing to
be someplace -- can switch on the go-slow in the excretory system, making you
constipated. This can lead to a dangerous toxic situation, with the headache
just being symptomatic of a larger malaise.
To change this state of chronic
constipation-headache connection, try to wake up ahead of your other schedules,
so you can factor in a relaxed visit to the loo.
Include more fiber-rich foods. Hydrate
continuously, with fluids, or wet foods. Avoid late, or heavy dinners (because
the food will remain undigested longer in the gut). Try to have a regular
wake-up schedule, to encourage the colon to settle into a rhythm that does not
stress it.
If you spot a connection between any
medication you take and the state of constipation, then ask your doctor for a
way out to deal with this side-effect.
4.
Stress is the culprit
Stress is one of the biggest trigger
in mild or chronic headaches. Obviously normal life cannot be stress-free. It
is how you handle stress that decides whether the stress would leave its
imprint on your body, as pain or disease.
Having a coping mechanism to deal with
routine stress, especially if you make the connection between your headaches
and stress, could be the best course of action.
Such stress-relief activity could mean
a physical regimen including a lot of stretches (since stress tends to contract
muscles), having a 'play' activity scheduled immediately after the stressful
event (for office-goers, it could mean a gripping book, an outing, a fun game
at the club, or just a favourite show on television) family time, a dessert
indulgence, or something special that could subconsciously give relief to the
sense of being overwhelmed (which is what actually stress is!).
5.
Dehydration and headache
Dehydration simply means you are
losing water from the body too fast for its comfort. This could happen when you
are sick, or forget to take water regularly, exert physically without adequate
hydration, or the weather is excessively hot, or while recovering from sickness
including loose motions, are in closed air-conditioned spaces, or while flying
long distance. The cause are many.
Dehydration is very dangerous simply
because it has so few obvious symptoms. A headache is amongst few that act as a
distress signal from the body that it needs the right fluids. To drink water
wisely is very important. Too much at one go does not do much to the body:
Regular sipping is more relevant. In acute dehydration, using water with a
certain amount of salt and sugar will help revive electrolyte balance. If you
have not eaten for long hours and suppress hunger or mistake it for thirst it
could also be dangerous: causing what is called water intoxication.
Listen to the cues of the body. The
best way to hydrate is to think of giving the body as much fluid as it loses
through heat, exertion, sweating, sickness etc.
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