Natural headache cures that really work!

Headaches are one of the top reasons we visit doctors, so it’s no wonder millions of us are searching for reliable, drug-free ways to prevent them. To the rescue:

✓ Ho wood to soothe stress!

Chronic stress is the number-one headache trigger for busy women, and this wood’s fragrance can help. Taking six slow, deep sniffs of this rose-like essential oil whenever you feel tension start to rise calms the anxiety center of your brain, helping you feel truly relaxed in as little as two minutes, German researchers report. Better yet, used daily, the soothing scent can cut your headache risk 33%. One option: Mountain Rose Herbs’ Ho Wood oil ($9 for 1 oz., Mountainroseherbs.com).

✓ Lime water to relax tight muscles!

Squeezing the juice of a fresh lime into a 24-oz. bottle of water and sipping it throughout the day helps banish headaches two ways, Dutch research shows: It prevents an often- overlooked headache trigger—mild dehydration—and the aromatic fruit acids in lime juice calm pain nerves in the brain.

✓ Stretches to release endorphins!

No need to sign up for spin classes to get the pain-relieving perks of exercise—just fitting in 30 minutes daily of gentle motion (such as yoga or tai chi) can slash your risk of headaches 43%, according to a study in the journal Cephalalgia. Low-impact physical activity releases a cascade of mood-boosting brain chemicals called endorphins, which relieve pain as effectively as prescription pain meds, says study coauthor David Aldridge, PH.D.

✓ Salads to cut your risk 35%!

Eating one cup of leafy greens daily could send your headache risk plunging 35% (or more) in three weeks, say researchers at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Polyphenols and vitamin C in leafy greens, including romaine, spinach, watercress and kale, reduce inflammation in brain blood vessels and in scalp muscles, and relax pain nerves in the brain, explains Michelle S. Cook, PH.D., author of Be Your Own Herbalist.

✓ Nuts to prevent mineral shortfalls!

Doctors at the State University of New York in Brooklyn say many of us could prevent tension headaches entirely simply by shoring up our levels of magnesium and potassium, minerals that keep head and neck muscles relaxed. In fact, just snacking on 2 1/2 cups of any nuts weekly can cut your risk of an attack as much as 42% in six weeks.

✓ Earlier bedtimes to KO pain

The hormone melatonin not only helps you sleep, it also blocks pain so effectively that it can lower your odds of having a tension headache or migraine 45% or more, say scientists. To maximize your melatonin production simply head to bed by 11 p.m. every night. According to UCLA researchers, snoozing during the one hour before midnight revs your brain’s melatonin output—and quashes headache flareups—in as little as 10 days! ■ Tip: Are you often too busy to get to bed by 11 p.m.? Taking 3 mg. of a melatonin supplement nightly can also do the trick.