posted by Som Offor.
Whether it’s curing a throat tickle, resolving your headache in
minutes or experiencing supersonic hearing, these 21 tricks are proven
methods of fooling your body to achieve a desired result, whether that’s
relieving pain or just having fun.
1. Cure a Tickling Throat
When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an
adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, especially if it
serves as a health remedy. Take that tickle in your throat: It’s not
worth gagging over. Here’s a better way to scratch your itch: Scratch
your ear. “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a
reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott
Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center
in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”
2. Experience Supersonic Hearing
If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in
with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the rapid
rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen
School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to identify
that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the
sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.
3. Calm Yourself With Cold Water
Nerves getting the best of you. Take a deep breath and spash cold
water on your face. This triggers the mammalian diving reflex that is
genetically in all animals including humans. The lower temperature of
the water and you holding your breath also causes your body to think
it’s diving into cold water. This reflex allows you to use oxygen more
efficiently.
4. Overcome Your Most Primal Urge To Pee
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about what ever turns you
on. Thinking about s*x and arousing fantasies preoccupies your brain, so
you won’t feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of
male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
5. Feel No Pain While Giving Blood
Love donating blood but hate the needle prick? German researchers
have discovered that coughing during a needle stick can lessen the pain.
According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the
trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and
spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal
cord.
6. Swallow Your Horse-Sized Supplements
Those huge health supplements are sometimes a pain to swallow. Want
to swallow more than one at a time without gagging? Try this trick to
get them down: take a drink of water, and tilt your head forward instead
of backward. The capsule should float, and will be at the back of your
throat, ready to swallow.
7. Clear Your Stuffed Nose
Forget Sudafed. Here’s an easier, quicker, and cheaper remedy to
relieve sinus pressure: Alternate thrusting your tongue against the roof
of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger.
This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the
mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant
professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic
medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel
your sinuses start to drain.
8. Fight Acid Reflux By Sleeping Position
Worried that chilli will repeat on you tonight? Try this preventive
remedy: “Sleep on your left side,” says Anthony A. Starpoli, M.D., a New
York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New
York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on
their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The
esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right,
the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach
acid to slide up your throat. When you’re on your left, the stomach is
lower than the esophagus, so gravity’s in your favor.
9. Cure Your Toothache
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area
between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this
technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with
using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area
of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.
10. Make Burns Disappear
When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin
and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice
will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the
natual method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the
skin is less likely to blister.
11. Stop the World from Spinning
Feeling dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your
ear responsible for balance–the cupula– floats in a fluid of the same
density as blood. “As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula
becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your
brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second
opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand
are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional
foot-on-the-floor wisdom.
12. Unstitch Your Side
If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right
foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which
lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a
side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men.
The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.
13. Stop A Nose Bleed
Put some cotton on your upper gums–just behind that small dent below
your nose–and press against it, hard. “Most bleeds come from the front
of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose,” says Peter
Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni
Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing here helps stop them.”
14. Make Your Heart Stand Still
Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus
nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing,
says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University
of Pittsburgh. It’ll get your heart rate back to normal.
15. Thaw Your Brain Freeze
Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as
much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get
extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Abo.
“In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.” The
more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your
headache will subside.
16. Prevent Near-Sightedness
Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber,
O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It’s usually caused by
near-point stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen for
too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the
day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a
few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time.
Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick
involuntary muscles–like the eyes–into relaxing as well.
17. Wake Up a Limb That Feel Asleep
If your hand falls asleep while you’re driving or sitting in an odd
position, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish your
pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly
hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves
in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure.
Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so stand up and
walk around if they fail you.
18. Impress Your Friends
Next time you’re at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one
arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain
this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He’ll
resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half inch higher
(a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave in. By
misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove,
C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California.
Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the
body’s ability to resist.
19. Breathe Underwater
If you’re dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool,
take several short breaths first–essentially, hyperventilate. When
you’re underwater, it’s not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate
for a breath; it’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood
acidic, which signals your brain that somethin’ ain’t right. “When you
hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,” says
Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn
University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen.”
It’ll buy you up to 10 seconds.
20. Encode Long-Term Memory
Your own! “If you’re giving a speech the next day, review it before
falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological
sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation
happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely
to be encoded as long-term memory.
21. Relieve a Migraine Instantly
The next time you are about to reach for some pills to get rid of
your headache, use your thumb and forefinger and pinch down on the
muscle on the web of your hand (thumb on the back of your hand and
forefinger underneath) and press for 2 minutes. Repeat. Most headaches
and migraines will ease after just 4 minutes. This shiatsu point
addresses headaches by dispersing stagnant Ki (i.e. blocked energy) and
moving blood in the head, neck, and other parts of the body.
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has expressed confidence that he will be re-elected for a second term in office.