Nature’s Cures: Headaches

This is part of our Nature’s Cures mini-series, which features all-natural remedies for common ailments. Catch up on previous posts here.

Nothing can ruin a perfectly wonderful day like a good, old-fashioned headache. Whether you get them in mild form on occasion or you suffer from migraines and tension headaches daily…they just ruin everything. Luckily, there are some natural options so that you can avoid pumping your liver full of acetaminophen when the world around you is pounding to the beat of a terrible drum.

Our body is comprised of hundreds of tricky little buttons, called pressure points. These magic marks on the map can lead your headache right out of the door, if you know the right ones to choose:

• Between the thumb and index finger. Locate the fleshy triangle between these two fingers and apply as much pressure as you can stand where it hurts and feels tight.
• The back of your neck. Find the space where the top of your neck meets the base of your skull and travel to either side of the spine…there you will find two tender pressure points that may almost feel like a bruise if your headache is in full force. You can massage these points with your thumbs or laying down, press into and slightly roll a tennis ball around on the areas that hurt.
• Between your eyes. If you have the type of headache where you feel pain behind your eyes, it will help to lightly add pressure with your thumbs just above the inner corner of the eye on the brow bone.
• Between the toes. Much like the pressure point on the hand, there is a tender spot between your big toe and second toe where you will feel a similar pain when pressure is applied. Keep the pressure on this point until you start to feel it dissipate.

If these don’t ease the pain enough, try peppermint oil massaged into the temples and directly onto the forehead.

Image by Sarah Kehoe via Darling Issue 16.