milestone moments: You: Stress Less... Stress-management technique 4

MANAGE PAIN

59. SQUASH A HEADACHE

it used to be thought that tension headaches came from muscle tension, but it's now believed that these headaches occur when fluctuations in serotonin and endorphins activate pain pathways in the brain
tension headaches have more triggers than a rifle range: stress, lack of sleep, skipping meals, bad posture, clenching your teeth, medications, and being about as active as a comatose slug
try to find patterns in behavior for when headaches come, then isolate the triggers to see if you can identify the cause and avoid it

60. GET TOUCHED

acupuncture works when your fingers press points in the body that release muscular stress. Get a shiatsu massage.

61. ... OR DO IT YOURSELF

you can try these pressure points yourself to relieve tensions (lots of experts warn against using these points if you're pregnant):

Belly of your temporalis muscle = located in the center of your temple region

palpate this region with your first and middle fingers pressed closely together until you find a tender, muscular zone. If you have trouble locating this point, place your fingers against your temples and then clench down on your molars a few times. You should feel the main belly of your temporalis muscles bulge in and out.

locate the points at the base of the skull in the back of the head, just behind the bones in the back of the ears, and apply rotational pressure for two minutes with your thumbs

pinch the tissue just above the nose with your middle finger near one eye and the thumb near the other and slowly push upward so you feel the pressure near your eyebrows.

using the thumb and index finger of the other hand, apply a pinching pressure to the soft fleshy web between the thumb and index finger, on the back of the hand

62. OR ROLL ON IT

use your spare tennis balls, put one of two balls in a sock. Put the sock under a painful spot in your back and lie on the balls
it works like an ultrafocused deep-tissue massage to relieve tension in the area, sans the hands of Sven

63. STOP JAWING AROUND

pain in temporomandibular joint (TMJ, so the disease is called TMD)
TMJ is the joint between the upper jaw (maxilla) and the lower one (mandible) that purposely dislocates itself with every bite to increase your chewing force

it's constantly on the move (eg. when you're eating, talking, kissing the neck of your beloved)
the edges of these jawbones are coated with slippery connective tissue that allows the bones to move, almost like a silicone pad on a chair leg

if you have some pain in your jaw, you can actually diagnose the problem yourself (untreated, it can lead to headaches, tooth and gum disease, and other problems)

open your jaw. If you feel pain, hear a pop, or can't open your mouth fully, that means you've got some kind of joint problem (causes can be muscular, joint dysfunction, teeth clenching, poor alignment of teeth, and stress). You should see a TMJ specialist

64. STRENGTHEN YOUR NECK

headache pain can come from weakness or spasms of the neck muscles
you feel the pain in your upper back and it goes to your lower neck, then upper neck, as progressively weak muscles compensate for too much computer or bridge time
if the muscles of your upper back are sore, it may be weakness of the trapezius muscle

strengthening that area takes five minutes three times a week for ten weeks to reduce such pain by more than 80%
see YOU: Being Beautiful for a workout that will help strengthen the area. (that's another book by the way)

You Stress Management Plan

milestone moments