That throbbing, pounding, piercing, splitting, or all-enveloping pain in your head; you know what it is.  Headaches are among the most common of ails.  Often, these are mild and pass within minutes with a bit of rest.  For some though, only direct treatment with conventional medicine seems to have any effect.

Of course, there are many causes for headaches, as well as many methods to cure them.  If you are one of the many who are trying to find a less chemical and more natural way of living, then you should take note of some of the following headache treatments.  If you need more information, just look it up on the ‘Net.  It is a vast resource, and you can find tons of info on symptoms, support, and home cures.

Headaches are not actually caused by pain in the brain.  The brain has no pain receptors, but some parts of the head and neck do.  Some blood vessels around the skull and the meninges, membranes that envelop and protect the brain, are also sensitive to pain.  These are the ones that often give you that pain.  Over the course of a year, 90% of people suffer from headaches, though many of these are just passing problems.  About 1% does have some serious underlying medical condition though, especially if it is recurring or if no relief seems to be obtained with analgesics.

Tension headaches are some of the most common.  When under stress, you may be clenching your teeth, squinting, or tensing your shoulders excessively.  Over an extended period of time pain develops, and the pressures affect pain receptors on the head and neck.  Pretty soon, you get a headache.  The remedy for this type is pretty simple: just relax and stretch a bit.  Short, regular breaks are great for preventing these.  Also, try not to clench your teeth or tense your muscles too much.  Take notice and correct this behavior.

The hangover is also a pretty common cause for headaches.  You’ve probably heard this before, but the best way to avoid hangovers is to not get drunk.  Drinking to excess, meaning drinking more than your body can metabolize, is what gets you drunk and hung over.  No, drinking more is not a cure.  There is no cut-and-dried method, but there are general guidelines to follow.  Get rehydrated, preferably with fruit juices rich in Vitamin C.  Avoid a lot of caffeine.  Sleep!  Avoid analgesics, since alcohol can magnify their side effects.  Put simply there is no magical aid to cure hangovers; all you can do is to accelerate the recovery.

A blocked sinus is not too much trouble, but if both sinuses are blocked or if one sinus is blocked particularly badly, then you could get headaches due to pressure.  One way to clear these sinuses and prevent blockage is to increase humidity in the room.  Nasal irrigation, or running clean water through the sinuses also helps; nasal saline spray devices provide a more decorous way to do this.  Warm compresses and gentle blowing out of mucus help.  Lastly, aromatherapy with menthol or eucalyptus is great.

Homeopathic remedies using ingredients like cardamom, cinnamon, lemon, rosemary, and mint are also available.  Many of these are used by steeping the ingredients in water and making a “tea” out of them for sipping.  The heat also helps to loosen mucus, so keep tissue paper on hand.

For the monstrous migraine, there are few ways to help.  This is because the exact cause is unclear, and so the best way is to treat it with analgesics.  Niacin, or Vitamin B3 is said to help clear and prevent migraines; vitamin supplements, green leafy vegetables, nuts, sunflower seeds, and fish are the best sources for this.  Other than those, addressing the triggers of one’s own migraines is the way to go.

Headaches are a common ailment that we do not yet fully understand, and so have no exact way to cure.  Until then, the best we could do would be to minimize the factors that cause headaches.  Take things easy, try the headache remedies listed here, eat better diets, and relax.