Everyone goes on a “health kick” every once in a while and makes the decision to eliminate all vices from their diet, even if only for a few days. For me, caffeine tops this list of must-have, not-so-good for you things. Making the choice to give up caffeine is awesome for your health, but the headache that you’ll deal with for days after is exactly the opposite. Unfortunately, this side effect is nearly unavoidable as your body adjusts to a lack of caffeine, so try these tricks on how to cure a caffeine headache and feel reenergized as soon as possible.
1. Hydrate
The first thing you should do to cure a caffeine headache is drink plenty of water in order to increase blood flow to pain-sensitive structures in the brain. Caffeine is also known to dehydrate your body, so rehydration is key to feeling more awake. Drinking tons of water isn’t the easiest, so I try to trick myself into staying hydrated by putting water into the same reusable cup that I typically fill with coffee. Although it’s cruel, drinking from the same cup means one less habit to break.
2. Sleep
Because we drink caffeine to stay awake, your headache may be worsened by the fact that a lack of coffee will leave you inevitably exhausted. Try to fit a nap into your day, or make sure to get a good night’s sleep. Caffeine headaches are known to disappear within 48 hours, so aim to squeeze as much shut-eye into this timeframe as possible, even if that means taking ten or fifteen minutes to snooze between classes. If you’re not a big nap-taker like myself, try going to bed just an hour earlier and making the most of a night’s sleep.
3. Aromatherapy Using Peppermint
If water and sleep don’t quite do the trick, consider aromatherapy using peppermint oil to cure your caffeine headache. As strange as it sounds, massaging peppermint oil into your temples or forehead is proven to ease headache symptoms , as well as relax your muscles. When the urge to have a cup of coffee hits, turn to peppermint tea instead, which has no caffeine and can provide the same sensation as sipping a hot cup of coffee.
4. Watch What You Eat
Tons of foods that we consume contain caffeine, even if we don’t realize it. For example, most energy and protein bars contain nearly as much caffeine as a can of soda in order to provide the energy-boosting benefits that dried fruits and nuts simply can’t. Be careful when you choose hot chocolate as a coffee alternative because cocoa beans naturally contain caffeine and will do very little to make quitting caffeine easier. Avoid this beverage especially, because reintroducing caffeine in a different form makes it harder for your body to survive without it, therefore making it harder to cure your headache. Instead, sip on a cup of tea or hot cider which are naturally caffeine-free.
With these tips, you’ll be getting over your caffeine headache in no time and you might even forget how much you needed coffee in the first place.