1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear.
When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an
adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you’re
more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it’s not worth
gagging over. Here’s a better way to scratch your itch: “When the
nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat
that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president
of an ear, nose and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey.
“This spasm relieves the tickle.”
2. Experience supersonic hearing!
If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in
with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the
rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David
Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to
identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear
toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.
3. Overcome your most primal urge!
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson.
Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won’t feel as much
discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive
medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try
Simpson’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” video.
4. Feel no pain!
German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection
can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras
Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a
sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal,
inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.
5. Clear your stuffed nose!
Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus
pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of
your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This
causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the
mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an
assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of
osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20
seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.
6. Fight fire without water!
Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? “Sleep on your left
side,” says Anthony A. Star-poli, M.D., a New York City
gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York
Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their
left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus
and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the
stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid
to slide up your throat. When you’re on your left, the stomach is
lower than the esophagus, so gravity’s in your favor.
7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area
between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this
technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared
with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate
an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.
8. Make burns disappear!
When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin
and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand.
Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but
since the natural method brings the burned skin back to a normal
temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.
9. Stop the world from spinning!
One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something
stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—
floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. “As alcohol dilutes
blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says
Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a
stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in
balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works
better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.
10. Unstitch your side!
If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right
foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver
(which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm
and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home
Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.
11. Stanch blood with a single finger!
Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed
—if you don’t mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil
approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small
dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. “Most bleeds come
from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the
nose,” says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat
specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing
here helps stop them.”
12. Make your heart stand still!
Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus
nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing,
says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the
University of Pittsburgh. It’ll get your heart rate back to normal.
13. Thaw your brain!
Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As
for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth,
covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your
mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing,
too,” says Abo. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream
headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the
faster your headache will subside.
14. Prevent near-sightedness!
Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber,
O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It’s usually caused by
near-point stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen
for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours
during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath,
and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same
time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes
can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.
15. Wake the dead!
If your hand falls asleep while you’re driving or sitting in an odd
position, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish
your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A
tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle
of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the
pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so
don’t let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.
16. Impress your friends!
Next time you’re at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one
arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain
this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down.
He’ll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half
inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will fold
like a house of cards. By misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his
spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness,
in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is
vulnerable, so it shuts down the body’s ability to resist.
17. Breathe underwater!
If you’re dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool,
take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When
you’re underwater, it’s not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate
for a breath; it’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your
blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin’ ain’t right.
“When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,”
says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at
Auburn University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more
oxygen.” It’ll buy you up to 10 seconds.
18. Read minds!
Your own! “If you’re giving a speech the next day, review it before
falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological
sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation
happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more
likely to be encoded as long-term memory.
by Kate Dailey
