In winter, people have headaches twice as often as at other times of the year. How can this and other negative effects of cold be avoided?
PhD in Medicine, therapist
The reasons: cold air, sudden changes in pressure and temperature, strong wind, uncomfortable hats. All this causes vasospasm and irritation of the nerve endings of the head.
1. Do not go without a hat in winter: cold air not only constricts the vessels of the head, which causes migraines, but also weakens the hair. Walking bareheaded can lead to more formidable consequences: inflammation of the trigeminal nerve, facial neuralgia, meningitis.
2. Choose a headgear of the right sizeso that the head feels comfortable in it. A hat, stole or scarf should protect the forehead, back of the head, ears, and neck from frost. The hood is an excellent “cover” for the head, but it should serve as an addition to the hat, not as a replacement.
3. Do not wear tight hats, especially with elastic bands that run across your forehead and temples: they constrict small vessels. Spiky caps can cause allergies and hives.
4. In winter, at the end of the day, the head often splits. This makes itself felt osteochondrosis, often arising from the fact that massive coats and fur coats pinch the blood vessels in the neck and shoulders. When buying winter clothes, first of all pay attention to its weight. Now there is a huge selection of down jackets, warm coats with padding polyester and other fillers, the weight of which is not felt at all.
5. When getting into a car, entering a house or office from frost, do not arrange a steam room: do not turn on the stove in the car at full power, and in the room – the air conditioner at 30 degrees. The vessels of the brain respond to sudden changes in temperature with spasms, hence the pain in the temples or the back of the head. On the contrary, let fresh air into the room and ventilate the room more often.
6. Drink lavender leaf and flower tea throughout the day: it trains the vessels perfectly.
7. Rub your earlobes in the morning and throughout the day, massage your neck and shoulders. If you feel the approach of a headache, massage your head with light stroking movements, making slow circular movements in the direction: forehead – nape – crown – temples – ears – neck.
8. If the headache does start, the best way to relieve it is lie down in a dark, quiet room for 15–20 minutes and think about something pleasant. Potato compress relieves headache well: apply warm potatoes, boiled in the peel, to the forehead and temples. A lemon peel applied to the head also has an analgesic effect.
The reasons: cold air causes vasospasm and blood outflow from internal organs.
1. In order for the body to work normally in cold weather, it needs more fuel, that is, calories. Therefore, before you go outside, fill yourself with burning food well. Cook oatmeal with dried fruits for breakfast: oatmeal will feed the body with useful carbohydrates, and dried fruits – with vitamins. Drink hot sweet tea, you can add a few drops of tincture of ginseng, or lemongrass, or eleutherococcus to it (if you do not suffer from hypertension). With tea, you can eat a few pieces of dark chocolate, it will invigorate and strengthen the body. Lunch in the cold season must necessarily consist of hot dishes.
2. Ten-minute charge and warm shower will make your blood run faster, and you will be much less likely to freeze on the street.
3. Feeling cold but can’t get to a warm room quickly? Stop trembling, relax, pretend you are in the desert under the scorching sun. Tell yourself a few times: “I feel warm”, and you will really warm up a little – auto-training works wonders!
4. In the evening before bed Put your boots and gloves or mittens near the battery: when you leave the house in the morning in warm boots and gloves, you will not be afraid of any frost.
The reasons: overcooled, the tissues lose blood, white spots appear, the sensitivity of the skin is lost. Most often, cheeks, the tip of the nose, ears, hands are frostbitten.
1. Do not rub the frostbitten area with snow or a mitten: you will damage the skin, and blood circulation will be further impaired. Cover the affected area, such as a scarf, and try to be warm as soon as possible.
2. Arriving home, take a bath, but not a hot one! The water temperature should first be 37 degrees, and only then you can gradually add hot water until you get warm.
3. If you cannot take a hot bath (you have hypertension, cardiovascular disease, exacerbation of a chronic illness), be careful Lightly rub the frostbitten area with vodka or alcohol.
4. Have some hot, sweet tea.