There’s nothing worse than being in constant pain or feeling incredibly nauseous. It can be difficult to think about anything besides the discomfort in those situations. Luckily, there are 8 quick and simple tricks you can use to distract yourself from all of your illness and pain!
1. Scratch Your Ear To Cure A Scratchy Throat!
I didn’t believe it either ‒ until I tried it and it worked. As it turns out, Scott Schaffer, M.D., the president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center, gave this expert advice to Men’s Health. His exact words were, “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm. This spasm relieves the tickle.” Fascinating!
2. Relieve Your Migraine with Ancient Techniques
If you’re anything like my sister, you are plagued by constant headaches that never seem to go away. You might even take a lot of advil or other pain relief medicine ‒ which isn’t very good for your body, and you build up a tolerance pretty quickly. Instead, try the ancient technique of using pressure points to relieve your headache.
According to LiveStrong, you can simply use your thumb and index finger to press against the webbing between your thumb and index finger on your other hand to relieve the pain. Press and hold for two minutes on each hand while gently moving your fingers in a circular motion.
Confused? Watch this video:
3. Blow On Your Thumb To Calm Your Nerves
Does it sound ridiculous? Yes. Does it work? You betcha.
If you’ve ever had butterflies in your stomach before a big meeting, a date with a cute girl/guy, or just doing something new, you can use this method! Blowing on your thumb works because it regulates your breathing (thus calming your nerves), and also helps control your vagus nerve, which helps to slow your heart rate.
4. Use Alternating Pressure To Drain A Stuffy Nose
All stuffed up and can’t breathe out your nose? Try this technique.
Alternate pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth and pressing your index fingers against the inside of each of your eyebrows at the same time. Go back and forth between these two pressure points for about 20 seconds, and you should be able to take a nice deep breath! This works by moving the vomer bone back and forth, which breaks up your phlegm.
5. Ice Your Hand to Stop Toothaches
Suffering from horrendous tooth pain? Reach for an ice cube!
Take the ice and rub it on the back of your hand. Rub it back and forth on the webbing between your thumb and index finger. The nerves there are linked to the nerves in your face and both of which are linked to your brain. By icing your hand, you’ll block the pain signals in your teeth! Weird, huh?
6. Splash Your Face with Cold Water To Relieve Stress
You’ve probably already heard of this hack, but do you know why it works?
Apparently, by holding your breath and feeling the sting of ice cold water on your face, your brain is tricked into what is called the “mammalian diving reflex”. This reflex forces your body to use oxygen more efficiently, which in turn forces you to calm down. WebMD has a lot of studies on the history of the human brain and water ‒ it has a lot of calming effects.
7. Cough To Stop Pain From Needles
Are you afraid of getting a shot at the doctor or giving blood because of the impending needle in your skin?
Next time you’re about to get a needle in you, try letting out a small cough just before the nurse is injecting you. A cough will distract your brain from the pricking feeling and it’ll be done before you even realize anything happened! Just be sure to let the nurse in on your brain so she doesn’t jump and miss your vein!
8. Next Time You Get a Burn, Skip The Water or Ice
By running a burn under cold water or putting ice on it, your skin changes temperatures too rapidly, which can cause blistering and more unnecessary pain. Next time, just hold your fingers or hand over the burn to bring it back to body temperature more slowly, stopping the skin from getting as damaged.
