Home remedies for common ills offered by magazine
Want to avoid taking drugs for your maladies because you don’t like the side effects, or you just don’t like taking medicines? Men’s Health has some DIY suggestions for all sorts of common problems like insomnia and headaches. Some of the proposed fixes, found in the April issue, are below. They mostly seem harmless. Let us know if they work:
+Instead of cough syrup, use honey: Take 2 teaspoons of buckwheat honey, the darker kind with more antioxidants, to coats the throat. It should relieve irritation that causes coughing. And it should help avoid dizziness that can come with DM, cough medicine’s active ingredient.
+Instead of NSAIDs or acetaminophen for lower back pain, use the Warrior Pose: Yoga poses can be therapeutic as well as strengthening. The poses can decrease or eliminate the need for pain meds, which can cause liver and gastrointestinal troubles.
+Instead of painkillers for frequent headaches, get more sleep: Avoid multiple active ingredients and decrease use of pain pills that can cause overuse headaches. Instead get consistent sleep can desensitize the areas of the brain associated with cranial pain.
+Instead of antidepressants for mild depression, try retraining your brain: Try a technique that is focused on controlling your negative reactions to thoughts and emotions by viewing them objectively. It’s called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. It shifts awareness back on your body and its emotions.
+Instead of sleeping pills for insomnia, try staying awake a little later: Sleep medicines lose their effectiveness over time, so try going to bed later. To get back on track, push up bedtime in 20 minutes increments.
+Instead of laxatives, try drinking more water: Drinking two glasses of water before breakfast fills your colon with fluid and makes movements easier. Also try eating apples and bananas for more fiber that will stimulate bowel movements.
+Instead of daily asthma and allergy medicines, use an air filter: A filter will remove irritants that cause wheezing, chest tightness and coughing. If a whole-house air filtration system isn’t possible, buy a portable unit.
+Instead of antiviral influenza medications, use a humidifier: The flu virus likes drier air, so increasing humidity can reduce the virus’ survival. Use a humidifier in your bedroom set at 50 percent.
Los Angeles Times photo of Warrior 1 pose
