12 Tricks That Affect Your Body in an Unexpected Way
Imagine this situation: you have a super important meeting in an hour, but you also have a splitting headache. Or you’re sitting in the dentist’s chair and your stomach suddenly decides to rebel. These annoying problems can seriously spoil your daily life, especially if you don’t have any medicine on hand. Luckily, there are lots of useful tricks that can help you cope with these and quickly get your body under control.
Bright Side put together 12 helpful hacks that can have a surprising effect on your body.
12. Blow on your thumb to calm your nerves.
Why it works: Your thumbs have a direct impact on the vagus nerve that controls your heart rate. So when you blow on them, you slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure, which helps you calm down quickly.
11. Hold a pencil between your teeth to boost your mood.
Why it works: Keeping a pencil in your mouth will help you activate your smile muscles, which can deceive your brain and raise your spirits.
10. Soothe a tickling throat by scratching your ear.
Why it works: When the nerves in your ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in your throat that can cause a muscle spasm. This muscle spasm can relieve the tickle in your throat.
9. Turn off your gag reflex by squeezing your left thumb.
Why it works: It’s actually unknown as to whether it’s a specific set of nerves in your hand or just a distraction for your brain, but there is some proof that this trick could help you out.
8. Stop a nosebleed by pressing on your upper gums.
Why it works: It’s believed that putting pressure on your gums can block the artery that supplies blood to your nose.
7. Swallow stubborn pills by tilting your head forward.
Why it works: If you take a drink of water and then tilt your head forward instead of backward, this will help you deal with hard-to-swallow capsules easily. In this case, the capsules should float and will be at the back of your throat immediately.
6. “Wake up” your arm by moving your head around.
Why it works: A tingly arm is often the result of the compression of the nerves in your neck. So if you loosen your neck muscles, this will help you release the extra pressure in your arm.
5. Prevent burn scars by pressing the pads of your fingers against the burnt skin.
Why it works: Applying light pressure with your fingers will quickly bring your burnt area back to a normal skin temperature and make it less likely to blister.
4. Relieve a headache by putting your hands under cold water.
Why it works: Cold temperature can increase the blood circulation in your whole body. It works best on your hands because they have a lot of nerves that are connected right to your brain.
3. Deal with fear of needles by coughing.
Why it works: Coughing can work as a simple distraction for your brain. It also momentarily increases your blood pressure, which helps reduce your perception of pain.
2. Make your toothache disappear by putting an ice cube on the back of your hand between your index finger and your thumb.
Why it works: This part of your hand is filled with nerve pathways that carry pain signals to your brain, and the cold temperature is able to block these signals.
1. Get rid of hiccups by raising your arms above your head and stretching.
Why it works: Stretching can effectively reset the muscles of your diaphragm and stop it from contracting involuntary.
Do you know any other useful body hacks? Let’s continue the list together in the comments!
Illustrated by Oleg Guta and Yekaterina Ragozina for BrightSide.me
