4 Tips to Treat Essential Tremor

Essential tremor is a neurological condition that interferes with daily life. Basic tasks are challenging to complete due to hand tremors and involuntary shaking. Unless essential tremor is managed through medication and therapy, it is difficult to find relief. While medical support is necessary to treat essential tremors, lifestyle changes can reduce symptoms. 

Here, we go over four additional tips that you can implement as part of your plan to treat essential tremors. 

*Please note: This content was not written as medical advice. Speak to a medical professional about your essential tremor and all health concerns for appropriate treatment recommendations.

1. Get Restful Sleep

You know that sleep is essential for a healthy body, but you may not know that it is particularly helpful for reducing inflammation and regulating body temperature. 

For those looking to enhance their essential tremor treatment, sleep is key. You might have noticed that your body temperature tends to rise and fall dramatically the day after a night of poor sleep. The body has difficulty effectively regulating body temperature when it doesn’t get enough rest. When exposed to extreme temperature changes, people with Essential tremors can experience an increase in their symptoms. 

It’s one thing if you’re exposed to unpredictable weather, but when these temperature changes are coming directly from your body, this can become a big problem! 

Make sure you get enough sleep to keep your body temperature well-regulated and avoid activating your symptoms.  

2.  Avoid Caffeine Overuse

Although some of us can never even imagine giving up our morning cup of coffee, making lifestyle changes is often the best thing we can do to get better. For those with essential tremor, quitting coffee might be the very thing that you need to achieve symptom reduction. 

Caffeine and other stimulants can increase the duration and frequency of tremors, so cutting these out of your diet can be beneficial. You should apply this concept to anything you consume with stimulants, including energy drinks, excessive sugar intake, and artificial sweeteners. 

3.  Include Relaxation Therapies

Learning how to manage your emotional stress can directly impact how you feel physically. Sometimes, essential tremors can be activated by feelings of anxiety and stress. People with anxiety report many tremor-like symptoms, even though many do not suffer from essential tremor. 

Reported symptoms include body shakes and jolts, involuntary shaking, insomnia, and rapid heartbeat. As you can see, emotional stress can create physical tension. 

If you have essential tremor, you may be more vulnerable to this level of physical pain, so it is best to manage anxiety levels to feel better mentally and avoid aggravating your symptoms. 

4.  Over-The-Counter Magnesium Supplements

While you should speak with your doctor before starting any supplement regimen, taking magnesium supplements may be a helpful way to improve your essential tremor. 

Magnesium naturally relaxes the muscles in the body, which is why it is frequently prescribed as a sedative supplement for those who struggle to fall asleep. 

Likewise, those with essential tremor may benefit from magnesium supplements as they may help reduce the amount of tension in the body and relax the muscles that tend to tense and release through body tremors. 

If you take special medication, like beta-blockers, tranquilizers, or injections for essential tremor, magnesium supplements may not be safe for these treatment plans. Speak with your doctor first before ingesting any supplemental medications. 

The Bottom Line

Treating essential tremor requires mediation, therapy, and lifestyle changes. Although medical supervision is necessary to treat essential tremor, the four tips mentioned above can also help you reduce your symptoms from day to day.  

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