Smorgasbord Health Column – Some Health Hacks for everyday niggles such as Pins and Needles by Sally Cronin

Sometimes we get little health niggles that annoy and it is useful to have some hacks handy to ease the irritation..

Some Health Hacks for everyday niggles such as Pins and Needles

How to cure a tickling throat

When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty centre in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”

You can use an ear bud but do be careful about pushing too far into the ear and causing damage. Just enough to cause a cough reflex.

How to ease a toothache

I you begin to experience toothache and are unable to get to the dentist immediately you might try this interesting technique.

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

Clearing a stuffed nose –

A good way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.

Curing your one drink too many dizzy head.

Whilst not recommended to get to this point!! Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance — the cupula — floats in a fluid of the same density as blood.

“As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer.

This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

How to cure that stitch when running

Thankfully not my problem anymore as I walk fast but you can still develop a stitch. If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground.

This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men.

The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

Curing that Ice-cream headache

We’ve all been there, eating your Ben And Jerry’s while watching lost and suddenly at the end of the bucket you realized you ate too fast and too much and an Ice-cream headache starts

Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can.

“Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,”

“In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.”

The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

How to cure a sleeping limb (“pins & Needles”)

If your hand falls asleep, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don’t let your sleeping dogs lie.

Stand up and walk around.

A Party trick

Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He’ll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat.

This time his arm will cave like the French. By misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body’s ability to resist.

©Sally Cronin Just Food for Health 1998 – 2021

I am a qualified nutritional therapist with twenty-three years experience working with clients in Ireland and the UK as well as being a health consultant on radio in Spain. Although I write a lot of fiction, I actually wrote my first two books on health, the first one, Size Matters, a weight loss programme 20 years ago, based on my own weight loss of 154lbs. My first clinic was in Ireland, the Cronin Diet Advisory Centre and my second book, Just Food for Health was written as my client’s workbook. Since then I have written a men’s health manual, and anti-aging programme, articles for magazines, radio programmes and posts here on Smorgasbord.

If you would like to browse my health books and fiction you can find them here::Sally’s books and reviews

 

Thanks for visiting and I am always delighted to receive your feedback.. stay safe Sally.