Having regular headaches can be a very difficult thing to live with. Not only does it make you feel ill, but it can also stop you from getting on with day to day activities such as chores and work. They can certainly interfere with having a productive lifestyle. Looking after others, such as children, can be especially difficult if all you want to do is lay in a dark room. For many people, it can be very difficult to find a cure. Often, pain killers seem to only take the edge off the pain and can’t be something that is maintained long term.
There is a huge array of reasons that people get headaches, and very often the reason behind the headache is unknown. Regular reasons include living a very stressful life or being particularly stressed, not sleeping very well and various other lifestyle factors. Although the pain may be dimmed for a while when using pain killers, because the headache just comes back after the medication has worn off, it is obvious that the medication has not cured the cause.
If the cause behind the headache is due to lifestyle factors, as detailed above, then a method that could help is to take regular soaks in a hot tub. These regular soaks can help to improve sleep, lessen muscle tension and help you to have a more active and productive lifestyle. By alleviating the problems that are causing the headaches in the first place, the headaches may become less regular, or even stop completely.
How Does Soaking in a Hot Tub Help?
Stress is usually the biggest trigger for tension headaches, therefore alleviating the stress will reduce the reason for the tension headaches in the first place. They don’t, however, provide the pain relief for the headache itself once you already have it.
By how does a hot tub help you feel less stressed? There are several ways stress can be reduced through the use of a hot tub. For a start, the warm water will have a positive effect on the muscles in your body, relaxing them and allowing you to relax and enjoy the feeling. The water jets are an added bonus here, as coupled with the warm water they will help to unknot the tight muscles. Bodyweight will be reduced when you are in the water as well, taking the weight off painful joints for a while and giving your body a real chance to relax and unwind.
Plus, hot tubs provide a number of other healthy benefits. Another way that a hot tub has been known to reduce stress is simply to get you away from usual life events, such as checking your phone and computer regularly. Today we are constantly connected to the world through these electrical devices, meaning working life and personal obligations are constantly present. Relaxing in the tub gives your mind the chance to switch off from these obligations for a while. You can further this relaxation by coupling your hot tub experience with additions such as calming music, lighting effects, and even waterfalls and fountains.
Getting into a Routine
Even just one soak in the tub can help you relax, but a soak every day can provide cumulative relaxation benefits, as it may help to prevent the tension caused by stress to build up in the first place. Because the headache is a reoccurring issue, then it makes sense that the relaxation method is also a regular part of your lifestyle. Having a daily way to unwind and reduce the tension in both your mind and your body can go a long way to reducing how often you get a headache.
There is also another reason that soaking regularly will help to reduce the frequency of headaches. One of the most common causes of a tension headache is struggling to or not getting enough sleep. Therefore, if you get enough sleep then the likelihood of getting a tension headache should reduce. For some, however, getting enough sleep is easier said than done. For many, having a 20-minute dip into a hot tub around an hour before trying to sleep can help you to sleep better.
Keeping Active
Having an active lifestyle can have a range of health benefits, one of which is reducing the chance of developing a tension headache. It is up to you whether you choose to have your dip in the hot tub in the morning or the evening, whatever fits into your busy schedule. By fitting this element into your routine, you are building a platform from which other healthy routines can be fit into.
A 20-minute soak should be combined with around 20 minutes of exercise. The intensity of the exercise will depend on your level of fitness but could be something as simple as a brisk walk. After the exercise is when you should unwind in the hot tub. All of these methods work well together, as by exercising you are more likely to sleep better, which can further reduce the chance of developing a tension headache.
It is true that these methods will not definitely stop you developing a headache, but by reducing the causes, which can be stress, lack of sleep and not getting an active lifestyle, the likelihood of developing the headache in the first place is reduced, plus you will just feel better in your day to day life.
About the Author
Scott Bland has been in the leisure industry for nearly 20 years. As a sales manager in the leisure industry he knows hot tubs inside and out. Right now, he works sales while writing about hot tubs, pools and spas on his blog, www.scottbland.ca
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