By: Aakriti Gupta
Whenever we face any physical injury or feverish vibes during monsoon, our first impulse is to gulp down pills and capsules for instant pain relief. Driving all the way to the pharmacy to purchase it and bear the aftermath health impact of swallowing allopathic pills can be harrowing. But what if we tell you that you can find natural pain relievers in your kitchen with ease that will not affect your health at all but add some mystical benefits to it for the long term.
From the homely aspirin to the prescribed drug by your doctor, all allopathic
medicines come with detrimental side effects. Many can cause nausea, diarrhoea, or constipation when passing through our digestive system.
Muscle relaxants lead to dizziness, depression, and irritation smashing your mental health. *Allopathic medicines are known to affect men’s fertility as well.
Mother nature reflects like a knight in shining armour for us! It heals our soul, mind, and body by bestowing us with a spectrum of other-worldly food items that can furnish us with immediate pain relief along with no-side effects.
Without further adieu, we are here with some of the effective natural pain relievers that are easily found in your kitchen.
Yoghurt
If you are feeling bloating or any other constipation issue, then this tangy treat is a must. Yoghurt contains probiotic bacteria that are primarily known for their ability to boost men’s gut health (digestive issues).
*Harvard School of Public Health has established the fact that yoghurt can prevent or treat digestive difficulties like indigestion, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease (inflammatory bowel disease affecting the abdomen).
*Research shows active Crohn’s disease affects male reproductivity and fertility due to elevated levels of oxidative stress. Greek yoghurt is famous as a rich source of high-quality, muscle-building protein, and can fasten your muscle recovery after a heavy gym workout.
Willow Bark
It comes from varieties of willow trees like white, black, crack, and purple willow. Willow Bark contains Salicin, the active ingredient that can ease inflammation in your body.
It works like aspirin to alleviate headaches, backache, and pain if you are suffering from osteoarthritis (*13% of men in the US suffer from this due to work stress). Consuming it in the form of tea, liquid supplement and capsule will be worthwhile.
Cloves
One of the best herbal supplements that can relieve you from nausea, toothache, and gum inflammation by just chewing it or keeping it in your mouth. Application of clove oil for ten to fifteen minutes can steer clear away any fungal infections.
* It is the essence of eugenol in cloves that makes it one of the best natural pain relievers, eugenol is a natural blood thinner that protects against cardiovascular disease by inhibiting abnormal blood clotting. *Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death of men in the USA killing one in every four males.
Rosemary
Favourite ingredients of our mom to add into a chicken curry or red sauce pasta. Apart from being consumed as a flavouring agent, it has healing powers as well.
This dried herb is not only nutritious by being full of vitamin B6, iron, and calcium but is known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and improving digestion abilities.
It is antispasmodic relieving you from muscle spasms and if you apply a decoction of it to your temples of the head, it can reduce your migraine within minutes (*Migraine boosts the risk of heart disease in men by 42% and at least 9% of men are suffering from it).
Holy Basil
The ‘Queen of Herbs’ is an ayurvedic medicinal herb known to have anti-inflammatory properties, anti-oxidant elements, and is an analgesic (natural pain reliever) for arthritis.
Holy basil isn’t like the sweet basil in sweet marinara sauce your mother made, this green leafy plant has pharmacological properties to regulate the production of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline in your body, maintaining your testosterone level in the body.
*Men suffering from Type 2 Diabetes can cram down this herb as it helps in reducing their sugar level that prevents many issues like obesity, hypertension, and heart risk.
Tart Cherries
It is no big secret that our birthday cake cannot look luscious without being garnished with glace red cherries on it, but cherries having hidden pain relieving abilities is.
Cherries contain anthocyanins (phytonutrients) that can lessen the muscle’s pain by inhibiting pain enzymes.
This antioxidant powerhouse is helpful during arthritis, joint pain due to gout (defection metabolism of uric acid causing arthritis), and *muscle pain due to a strenuous workout minimising muscle spasms and soreness in men. Cherries are also known to provide cancer protection and neuroprotection.
Conclusion
Many herbs and spices have a long history of being consumed to relieve inflammation and pain, the most fascinating fact is that you can easily find them in your home. Natural pain relievers offer an alternative for people who want to avoid the long-term side effects of pain relief medication.
Keynotes
*Harvard School of Public Health https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/yogurt/
Men suffering from type 2-https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2017/9217567/
muscle pain due to a strenuous workout- https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/pa_systematic_reviews/402/
13% of men – https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/data_statistics/national-statistics.html
Migraine boosts the risk- https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/feel-your-pain-the-health-risk-of-migraines-in-men#:~:text=Migraines%20may%20be%20most%20painful,of%20men%20are%20regular%20sufferers.
Heart disease is one of the- https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/men.htm#:~:text=About%201%20in%2013%20(7.7,men%20have%20coronary%20heart%20disease.&text=Half%20of%20the%20men%20who,disease%20had%20no%20previous%20symptoms.&text=Even%20if%20you%20have%20no,at%20risk%20for%20heart%20disease.
Research shows active Crohn’s disease- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4986403/#!po=0.862069
It is the essence of eugenol –https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072209/
Allopathic medicines are known- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3719368/