It doesn’t have to be cold outside to use a heating pad. Whether you have a headache, sore muscles, or cramps, a heating pad is highly beneficial. Homemade heating pads are even better! Snuggle up with them if you are chilly, need comfort, or want to embrace the warmth. This article details how to make your own heating pads and the supplies you’ll need.
Firstly, you have to gather the supplies, which are a pair of cute and cozy socks, one pair of thin socks, 2 bags of small white beans, sewing supplies, and scissors. Don’t have beans? Replace them with rice! Don’t have cozy socks? A thicker pair of socks will do the trick! By the way, you don’t have to be a professional tailor or seamstress to make these. We believe in you!
Homemade Scented Heating Pads
- Step 1: Take the thin socks and sew them together at the cuffs. Make sure to leave a one-inch gap, and then fill each sock with a one-pound bag of beans, or one pound of rice.
- Step 2: Sew up the rest of the cuffs because this will serve as the inside bag for your heating pad.
- Optional Step: Drop some lavender essential oil onto the thin socks and allow it to soak into the material for about 15 minutes.
- Step 3: Take the cozy socks and sew them together, leaving a hole big enough to fit the thin socks with the beans into them. Once you fit the thin socks inside the cozy socks, finish the sewing job. Your homemade heating pad is ready, and it should resemble a horseshoe.
- Step 4: Warm the heating pad up in the microwave for about thirty seconds and then use it on the affected area.
The Benefit of Heating Pads
There are quite a few situations that call for a heating pad. Most importantly, heating pads help relieve aches and pains, relieve cramps, and ease muscle tension. Heating pads are a form of heat therapy, which encourages consistent circulation throughout the body. When dealing with an injury, heating pads can help reduce both muscle and pain discomfort. We detail some of the other benefits below.
Accelerates The Healing Process
Promoting blood flow to the injured area is an essential part of the healing process. The reason for this is because increased blood flow delivers more oxygen, white blood cells, platelets, and other essential nutrients. All of these things help repair damaged tissues, which is a crucial part of the healing process. Heat transfers all the way from the skin’s surface to deep muscle fibers. This improves blood circulation to the muscles, but also heats the cross layer of fat under the skin. People who have a thicker layer of fat, then, may not respond to heat therapy as well as people with less fat.
Heat Interrupts The Transmission Of Pain Signals
The reason you feel pain is because of sensory receptors that exist at nerve endings. Receptors compete with one another to reach the brain, and one set of receptors may block or mute the signals from another set. Heat therapy actually activates heat-sensitive calcium channels, which can block pain receptors directly. It’s also possible for heat to stimulate other sensory receptors, which may indirectly reduce pain.
Heat Increases Immunity
By elevating the body temperature via heat therapy (external heat), you mimic the function of a fever (internal heat). What this does is signal the immune system to respond at varying levels. Hot baths, for example, activate monocytes, a type of white blood cell that help fight infections and remove dead cells from the body. Heat therapy may also decrease levels of inflammatory markers in the body. Low levels of C-reactive protein, for example, indicate a stronger immune system.
