Yet, it turns out that we had some built-in solutions for these little annoyances all along. As you'll see, a lot of them would have come in handy when we were growing up.
COMMENT and let us know what bodily secrets you figured out on your own.
1. Sleeping on your left side can help relieve heartburn symptoms.
The same research that found this suggested that sleeping on your right side makes them worse so plan accordingly.
2. Distract yourself and your next injection won't hurt.
A study found that children who wore special audiovisual glasses reported less pain and distress during injections than those without them. Of course, nobody gives us anything fancy like that, so we have to make do with an interesting conversation.
If nobody around you feels very chatty, it seems that a single, moderate cough right as the needle is going in can be surprisingly helpful.
If nobody around you feels very chatty, it seems that a single, moderate cough right as the needle is going in can be surprisingly helpful.
3. Rubbing ice on the back of your hand can help relieve toothache pain.
It sounds like hokum, but a Canadian study reported a 50% decrease in dental pain from most of their subjects when they massaged the space between their thumb and their forefinger with an ice cube.
As far as researchers could tell, applying cold to this area stimulated brainstem cells known to dull pain signals.
As far as researchers could tell, applying cold to this area stimulated brainstem cells known to dull pain signals.
4. Drinking water can help you control your stress.
Dehydration increases your levels of a stress hormone known as cortisol. Moreover, stress makes you breathe heavily, which results in a greater amount of water loss.
5. Blowing with your thumb in your mouth can lower your heart rate.
It only works if you totally seal your mouth around your thumb, since the real trick is trying to blow through a closed airway. This stimulates the vagus nerve, which influences heart rate and blood pressure.
Talk to your doctor before trying this out since you don't want to mess around with your heart rate if you don't need to.
Talk to your doctor before trying this out since you don't want to mess around with your heart rate if you don't need to.
6. Putting the bottom of your tongue against the roof of your mouth can relieve brain freezes.
What we know as a "brain freeze" is actually your brain reacting to a sudden drop in temperature inside your mouth when you eat or drink something really cold. Your tongue is warm, so jamming your tongue against the roof of your mouth introduces enough heat to tell your brain to stop sending that signal.
7. Sleeping soon after you study helps you better retain the information you learned.
Your brain stays active when you sleep and will re-engage with the most recent information you fed it before you dozed off.
8. And if that sleep isn't coming so easily, try going to bed in socks.
Warming your extremities widens your blood vessels, which in turn encourages your body's sleep hormones to kick in.
9. Stimulating your ear can help soothe a scratchy throat.
According to Scott Schaffer, a New Jersey ear, nose, and throat specialist, working the nerves in your ear causes a small muscle spasm in your throat. That muscle spasm will help relieve the throat tickle.
However, you should avoid scratching the inside of your ear since that increases your chances of infection.
However, you should avoid scratching the inside of your ear since that increases your chances of infection.
10. People are more likely to listen to you if you talk into their right ear.
This is because the right ear has a more direct line to the left hemisphere of the brain, which is better at processing requests. A study set in a loud club found that researchers who asked for a cigarette in someone's right ear actually got one more often than those who asked in the left ear.
11. Breathing quickly before going underwater makes you hold your breath longer.
This leaves you with less carbon dioxide when you go under, which makes you feel less inclined to want to take another breath.
However, it is not advisable to do this because you're essentially tricking your body into thinking you have more oxygen than you do. Without the warning sign of discomfort, it's too hard to tell when you actually need more air.
This means you're more likely to black out and drown.
However, it is not advisable to do this because you're essentially tricking your body into thinking you have more oxygen than you do. Without the warning sign of discomfort, it's too hard to tell when you actually need more air.
This means you're more likely to black out and drown.
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