What can you do against headache?

The most important points in brief

• Everyone has headaches from time to time - some more often, others less often.
• The triggers for headaches can be extremely diverse. Even if you wanted to, you would never be able to list them all.
• But the fact is: With some diseases, headaches are only the symptom. Here it is important to treat the actual disease.
• So-called tension headaches and migraines can be effectively combated with home remedies.

Headaches - we all know them. For some of us they are constant companions, for example when we suffer from a migraine that occurs at regular intervals. Tension headaches are also often manifested by poor posture, stress, the weather, too much alcohol, environmental toxins or too little sleep. These so-called primary headaches can usually be treated well.

The treatment is only beneficial for primary headaches

For those who suffer from secondary headaches, however, the headache is only the symptom of the actual illness. This could be, for example, a feverish cold or the flu, unhealthy blood pressure or meningitis or sinusitis. The underlying disease needs to be treated here.

Primary headaches are not caused by an illness and can therefore be controlled with painkillers, for example. However, the regular intake of aspirin, ibuprofen and Co. is not exactly healthy and in the worst case even leads to psychological and physical dependence. If you take higher doses, you risk damaging your stomach and kidneys, and that can be long-term. Under no circumstances should you take different painkillers at the same time.

Home remedies for headaches - wrongly ridiculed

Of course, conventional medicine is an absolute constant when it comes to diagnoses and treatments of any nature. But it is no reason to smile at the so-called home remedies, after all, the applications are often handed down over many generations. Compresses on the neck, forehead or temples can have a good effect, especially if they are soaked in horseradish or onion juice, for example.

The Kneipp cure is more of a preventive effect. With cold water showers, calf wraps, foot baths with changing temperatures and the like, you can train your blood vessels and ensure improved blood circulation, which prevents headaches.

Essential oils are good for headaches

The effect of essential oils is undisputed. Peppermint oil and lavender oil are particularly helpful for headaches. A massage of the temples or forehead with these extracts relieves the pain, which has now even been scientifically proven. But be careful not to get the oil in your eyes.

Many swear by a foot bath in mustard flour (six liters of water, 20 grams of black mustard flour) for 15 minutes. Then dry off well, apply lotion to your feet / legs and then lie down for half an hour. Acupressure at certain points on the “energy pathway” in the body can also help under certain circumstances. And sometimes a nice bath tub helps.

Tips for internal use against headaches

As a tablet or as a tea, feverfew is said to have a lot of good things about headaches. Speaking of tea: There are a lot of varieties that have been shown to help with headaches, whether cowslip, rosemary, lemon balm or valerian. You can make tea against headaches yourself from a freshly grated ginger root.

A little doubtful in terms of taste, but a cup of coffee with lemon juice is now established as an instant product. It shouldn't be more, however, because heavy coffee consumption can itself cause headaches.