Lynn
Silence Hiccups
Take the deepest breath you can, hold it
for 10 seconds, then, without exhaling, suck in more air and hold it for five
more seconds. Finally--still without exhaling!--breathe in as much more air as
you can squeeze in, hold for another five seconds, and exhale. Then breathe
normally. This technique immobilizes the diaphragm (the muscle at the base of
your lungs), preventing the spasms. Luc Morris, M. D., and his colleagues at
the New York University School of Medicine tested the method on 30 patients who
were prone to frequent hiccups. "It worked immediately on everyone who
could do it," he says.
Break a Fainting Spell
Cross your legs, squeeze your thighs,
and contract your abs. You can feel faint when your blood pressure drops and
blood pools in your extremities. By tensing muscles, you keep your BP up and
divert blood back to your heart and brain. University of Amsterdam researchers
who tested muscle-tightening exercises found that they reduced the risk of
passing out by 30 percent.
Heal Nighttime Heartburn
Feeling the fire? Sleep on your left
side. This preserves the natural curve of the esophagus, which helps keep
stomach acid from creeping up. (When you sleep on your back or on your right
side, gravity straightens out the curve.) A study by Graduate Hospital in
Philadelphia found that frequent heartburn sufferers had fewer episodes when
they slept on their left sides than when they slept on their backs or right
sides.
Stop Needle Pain
Make your next flu shot feel less
piercing by putting pressure around the area that's about to be stuck, says
Ross I. Donaldson, M.D., M.P.H., assistant clinical professor of medicine at
UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "Make a circle with your thumb and
forefinger and push down for a few seconds as you're receiving the shot,"
he says. By stimulating receptors for pressure or touch, you can override
nearby pain receptors in your skin. "It confuses your nerves, so a shot feels
more like a gentle poke than a sharp jab," Donaldson says.
Beat Brain Freeze
Fold the tip of your tongue backward and
stick the bottom of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. The warmth will help
heat up the nerves in your palette and cause the blood flow to your brain to
normalize, says Jorge Serrador, M.D. of Harvard Medical School, who has
researched the mechanisms at work during brain freeze. You can also sip slowly
so your body has time to heat the tissue in the roof of your mouth and cup your
hands around your mouth like you would in the winter and exhale deeply. Doing
so will trap warm air in your mouth and help thaw your noggin,
Prevent Motion
Sickness
Seat yourself wisely: "Always ride
where your eyes will see the same motion that your ears and body feel,"
says Keri Peterson, M.D. internal medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in
New York City and Women's Health advisor. So in a car, ride in the front seat;
on a boat, position yourself on the deck and keep your eyes on the horizon; on
an airplane, try to score a window seat over the wing of the plane, Peterson
suggests.
Relieve Stress
Tap on your body's acupressure points while repeating
certain statements aloud, says Jessica Ortner, co-producer of The Tapping
Solution, a documentary film that explores tapping.
Research shows that the Emotional Freedom Technique
(a.k.a. EFT or tapping), a treatment which combines ancient Chinese acupressure
with modern psychology, can reduce cortisol levels in the body and counteract
the negative impact of stress by sending a calming signal to the amygdala (the
part of our brain responsible for our fight or flight response).
Start by using the tip of your index and middle fingers
to rhythmically tap the side of your hand point while saying the "setup
statement" aloud (speaking out loud will help with focus): "Even
though I have this problem [insert your particular problem, such as neck pain,
stress from a deadline, or anxiety], I accept myself." Repeat three
times.
Tap briefly where the eyebrow begins at the bridge of
your nose, to the side of your eye, under your eye, under your nose, on your
chin, on your collarbone point, under your arm, and on top of your head while
you express how you feel aloud, as if you're venting to a friend. Then repeat
on the other side.
Hold Back Tears
If you're tearing up at an inappropriate
moment, just clear your throat. "It interrupts the mechanism in the nasal
passage and larynx that controls crying," says Rebecca Nagy, a Charlotte,
North Carolina-based meditation expert. Plus, after you clear your throat, you
tend to swallow. This lifts your tongue to the roof of your mouth, which blocks
the soft palate, making you unable to cry. "I've suggested this technique
many times to brides and grooms who had trouble getting through their
vows," Nagy says.
