Getting Rid Of Nausea – Move It, Move It!
GETTING RID OF NAUSEA – MOVE IT! MOVE IT! ~ ISSUE 216 ~ OCTOBER 18, 2016
by Diane Gold
Getting rid of nausea is a wonderful thing. When nausea consumes us, we forget about all the time we have spent in our lives without it. But, it’s always heavenly if we can figure out a way like to get rid of it, even temporarily.
THE REVELATION
Quite by accident, I learned a sensational technique that may be helpful for everyone. Of course, it involved changing the biology through movement, which is the magic solution to so much.
I have been experiencing daily nausea and am not sure why. As of this writing, I have had some days without it, for which I am dancing and jumping for joy (WOO-HOO!). The point is it may come back, and many people have it daily even if I do not, at the moment. I wouldn’t have realized it is a new habit, but it becomes one if it shows up on a regular basis. Rather than get used to it, since it does not support my life, I look for a way to replace this habit with a new one.
So, I came upon this movement activity that replaced my habit as I was getting rid of nausea. I do tai chi and play the piano and even dance while nauseated. This is old news. But here is what’s new.
I was doing a physical therapy exercise by a doctor of physical therapy (thank you, Medicare) that I have been given to alleviate my left frozen shoulder. (I have already had right frozen shoulder which took a year to clear with no therapy due to no insurance or proper knowledge of technique.) Guess what happened?
The fairly severe pain I was causing myself as part of my so far successful regime to help my shoulder get back its mobility created chemical change in my body. This biological reaction caused the nausea to alleviate for a good long set of hours. I was amazed.
I immediately thought of the technique some teens use to alleviate the emotional pain of life: cutting. According to Michael Hollander, MD and author of Helping Teens Who Cut…, “This is an emotion-regulation strategy.” The methods I discuss below could be a positive replacement for this behavior.
Dancing, tai chi, stretching and playing music are hugely effective and positive activities; they can cause psychic trauma to relieve emotional pain. Who knew that these constructive exercises which can be painful when we are working hard could remove physical pain in this same way? I have led a wonderful life and have not experienced serious pain before. But, now, nausea has been my latest pain or my weight. And I am its warrior. (Get it? Warrior of Weight?) And causing a different kind of body pain made it go away, more than once.
THE BIOLOGY, WITH QUOTE FROM LEO WIDRICH
The presence of new physical pain can be called a distraction from the previous pain of nausea, but the alleviation of the nausea was caused by chemical changes in my body.
When we exercise, the body responds. So does the mind. I quote Leo Widrich, below, whose full article from 2/4/14 on exercise and happiness is available at fastcompany.com.
“Here is what actually happens:
If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising and eventually happy.
At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, [are] released in your brain. Your endorphins’ main purpose [is written by] researcher McGovern [as],
‘These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.'”
(Leo Widrich is the creator of Buffer.)
HOW TO USE POSITIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR NAUSEA
We can see how the above biology lesson follows what we experience when we move our bodies. When the body thinks it’s in stress, it produces feel good chemicals to help us cope. I never considered of getting rid of nausea other (constructive) physical pain.
I propose
ACTION STEP ONE: STRETCHING
as a great technique for getting rid of nausea, as long as we can move some part of our body. This activity is the exercise that gave me my revelation as I was stretching my shoulder to free its barriers. In doing any kind of stretching, we could cause the body to alleviate pain by feeling stretching good.
ACTION STEP TWO: DANCING OR TAI CHI
Whether we dance or do tai chi for 15 seconds in our bed or chair or we do a full street event, either of these activity will do wonders for nausea. Even if we fake it to make it (I looked for the origin of this phrase online. I do know that my friends and I used the expression frequently in 1968, so the book written with a similar name in 1982 was not its beginning.), our bodies will product chemicals to make us cope with the activity and help our problem.
ACTION STEP THREE: PLAYING MUSIC
Playing music has the benefits of calming the mind (or exciting it, depending upon the music and the outcome desired). We release dopamine in both the dorsal and ventral striatum, which perceive reward. Some days after I had experienced the exercise trick for nausea, I played music while feeling nauseated. It did not have as instant a reaction, but it limited my discomfort after a longer period of time. As a music therapist, I was not surprised. I had never used music for my own physical pain, which was nausea, but it was effective.
CONCLUSION
When we go beyond our capacity, just a little, by stretching, doing tai chi, dancing, activating ourselves through music – either by creating it or being stimulated by it – we can heal ourselves. These action steps are a set of natural ways of getting rid of nausea and pushing through what comes our way.
If you are so inclined, if you know anyone who might benefit, please pass this on.
If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com),
it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.
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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR
Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.
She believes in looking on the bright side. She says,
“If you can move for 5 seconds, you will make a change. Pick something you like; for me, it’s dance, tai chi, stretching, playing music. Just do it a little, from a bed, from a chair, on the open track.
“You know what they say, ‘Move it, or lose it.’ True, true. Good for the mind, good for the body. Do it!
“This is one of the simple ways to care for ourselves. It is a way of loving ourselves. By passing it on, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”
EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
MOVE IT!
