My family has a slightly sad experience with headaches. All of the women in my family have had a slew of bad headaches/migraines for a good chunk of their life. My sister’s headaches started a few years ago, and thankfully they’ve cleared up. My mom’s have been going on for possibly two decades, and mine have just started. Headaches suck. Sometimes it feels like no matter what you do, they will always be there or appear when you least expect it to ruin your day. I don’t have much experience with headaches, but I asked my sister about what she’s done to get rid of hers, and here’s the advice she gave me.
My sister’s best advice (in my opinion) was to sleep. I know that in college, naps and sleeping a full 8 hours are kind of ridiculous ideas. However, sometimes taking the time for a nap is the best thing you can do for your mental–as well as physical–health. If you’ve been attacked by a seriously bad headache, sometimes being under the covers in a dark room can help.
My sister’s next advice was to pop pills because that’s the way she is. Personally, I don’t like taking pain killers very frequently, so this isn’t for me. However, if nothing else has worked, or you really need to get something done that a headache is actively preventing you from, then taking some Tylenol or Ibuprofen might be a good option.
Some advice my sister gave made a lot more sense than I was expecting, but it’s also not always practical. For example, at college, it isn’t easy to take a bath. While I would love to treat myself to a bath, and in the process hopefully help my headache, it’s just not going to happen while I’m away at school. I’m also curious about her advice to use a hot rag. That kind of stuff always sounds like it works, so I probably am going to try it. If nothing else, it should at least be relaxing.
While this isn’t a comprehensive list of all you can do to help with a headache, it’s at least a good starting point. I should also tell you guys that eating bananas is apparently supposed to help, but bananas make me sick so I’m never going to be able to tell you if that works.
Hopefully, these little pieces of advice help some of you who might be experiencing headaches right now, or get one every once in a while. Good luck!
Shout out to my amazing, beautiful sister for helping me with this article! If you want to follow her on Instagram (and I think you should) her handle is @kaylamkornbau.