You’ve heard the children’s song about how the hip bone is connected to the leg bone, which is connected to the foot bone, right? Turns out there are a lot of odd, secret connections and tricks inside your body that can relieve pain and help in stressful situations. Here are 14 of these little-known fixes that you already have onboard.
Painless Shots
Put pressure near the spot that’s about to get the needle and you’ll feel it less. Just make a circle with your thumb and forefinger and push down a few seconds before the shot. This technique overrides nearby nerves, making the shot feel more like a gentle poke.
Hiccup Relief
Nothing can be more aggravating than nonstop hiccups. Fortunately, your body has a built-in remedy: Take your deepest breath and hold for 10 seconds. And then, without exhaling, breathe in more air and hold for another 5 seconds. Then, one more time, breathe in as much air as you can, hold for 5 seconds, and breath out—hopefully without any more hiccups.
Faint Away
Feeling a little light-headed and afraid you might faint? Just cross your legs, squeeze your thighs, and contract your abdominal muscles. Tensing your muscles bumps up your blood pressure and helps divert blood to your heart and brain.
Heartburn Buster
To avoid heartburn at night, roll over to your left side. Sleeping on your right side or back straightens the curve of your esophagus, allowing stomach acid to more easily move up.
Cry Control
Tearing up when you don’t want to can be soooooo embarrassing. Your body’s remedy: Clear your throat. Your little “ahem” interrupts the body’s urge to cry and gives you a chance to compose yourself.
Closed Spaces Open
Whenever you’re afraid of tight spaces (like elevators), take a sniff of a green apple. You’ll feel less closed in. Real estate agents also use the scent of green apples to make houses feel bigger.
Fever Broken
High fevers—over 102 degrees—need to be controlled. To quickly bring down a temp, put an ice pack under your arm or near your groin. This’ll quickly cool your core, so you can get to the doctor.
Throat Tickle Cure
To relieve that constant feeling in the back of your throat, tickle something else…your ear. Touching the area around your ear creates a reflex in the throat that eases the annoyance.
Stuffed Nose Cleared
Your body has a natural mechanism to unclog your nose. Just push your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with a finger. Keep it up for about 20 seconds and your sinuses will start to drain.
Toothache Eased
Turns out because of some odd nerve connections, you can reduce the pain of a toothache by rubbing ice on the back of the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger.
Burn Unnoticed
Instead of reaching for an ice cube after a minor burn, clean your skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unhurt hand. By returning the skin to a normal temperature (as opposed to the cold), your skin will be less likely to blister.
Heart-Calming Breeze
If you’re feeling anxious and can feel your heart racing, call your thumb into action. By blowing on your thumb, you can get your heart rate back to normal.
Hand Full, Again
When your hand falls asleep, no need to jiggle it back to life. Instead, rock your head from side to side. Those pins and needles will be gone in less than a minute.
Brain Thaw
We’ve all dug into ice cream a little too quickly and felt that chilly sensation known as brain freeze. To prevent an ice-cream headache, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, applying as much pressure as you can.
Move over, Criss Angel!
Dress Up a Plain Suit
