Ever tried to play a game of carrom, people with their gaze fixed on you and your next move and suddenly you feel your hands are shaking or one day you feel that the coffee mug you are holding in your hands starts shaking and you realize its not earthquake but your own hands trembling.
Shaky hands is commonly referred to as a hand tremor. Hand tremor is not life threatening but may make you feel irritated, embarassed or even stressed at times. One can also relate to an early warning of some neurological disease or a degenerative condition.
What Really Causes The Shaking Of Hands?
It’s likely caused by a disruption in normal brain function of the cerebellum, neither the reason behind this disruption has been well established nor the way how it can be stopped.
Shaking is very common in hands, arms, head and vocal cord and cannot be controlled. This shaking is very common when the muscles are stressed. When the muscle is relaxed, shaking either gets stopped or turns milder.
Shaky hands are caused by:
- seizure
- not enough sleeping hours
- high level of thyroid
- cerebellar disease
- medication side effects
- caffeine overdose
- alcohol abuse
- excess of smoking
- anxiety
- low blood sugar
Can A Cure For This Be Found Out ?
Treatment options can be searched for once you determine the reason behind your hand tremor.
There are different ways to minimize the shaking of hands.
BRINGING THE CHANGES IN YOUR LIFESTYLE
Lifestyle changes are mostly recommended by the doctors but with the ongoing hectic life of people, they dont like to take the long path. But the ones willing to take the longer path can adopt the following life changes –
1. Use heavier objects Replace lightweight items with the heavier ones. the extra weight put on may make handling of items easier. For Example, delicate objects like glass or silver can be replaced by stronger and heavier versons.
2. Try adopting wrist weights in your life. Getting hang of handling weights may make control on your senses and organs easier.
3. Take deep breaths and continue the process of inhale and exhale for few minutes. Rush of adrenaline in your body during stress or extreme conditions may cause your hands to shake.
4. There is no better cure to a medical and health problems than practising yoga and meditataion. Yoga and meditation relieves you of stress and in turn reduces the shaking of your hands.
5. Make sure you sleep for a good amount of hours in a day. Teenagers should prefer getting a sleep of 8-9 hours whereas adults should make it mandatory getting atleast 7 hours of sleep.
6. In case of low blood sugar, eat a piece of hard candy or sugar or chew some sort of glucose tablet.
7. Try not to skip any of your meal. Try grabbing something healthy be it a sandwich or snacker- if your next meal is 30 minutes away.
8. Try avoiding huge intake of caffeinated beverages and energy drinks. Up to 400 milligrams of caffeine is considered a safe amount for adults and up to 100 milligrams for adolescents. Children should try and avoid caffeine as far as they can.
9. Nicotine is a stimulantand hence chain smokers often experience shivering of hands. Sudden withdrawl of nicotine too causes shivering. Once when you quit smoking you might experience shivering of hand but after 2-3 days, shivering tends to become milder.
10. Regulate your alcohol intake. Try to bring in any other drink as a replacement.
11. Make yourself aware of the side effects of each and every medication. Shaking caused by medicines and its side effects is called drug induced tremor. Antidepressants to antibiotics, it is possible that they are the reason behind your quivering and shaking hands.
- Consult your doctor before starting or stopping any medication.
- Adjust your dosage and medication accordingly, which helps you overcome your tremor problem.
12. There are some acupressure points in the body for hand tremor. You can use these points to have a hand free of shivering.
Point TW5/TH5
Location: three finger width above wrist crease on the dorsal side.
Point GB34
Location: bend you leg. With the tip of your index finger probe the area in front of and below the head of the outer leg bone until you feel a slight dip.
13. Adopt a healthy diet . Deficiency of some vitamins and minerals causes health problems which includes hand tremor. Listed below are the names of some vitamins and minerals which helps you maintain your health.
VITAMINS
Let us find out some vitamin rich food products-
VITAMIN B12 can be found in fish, crab, silken tofu, fortified cereals, red beef, skimmed milk and chicken’s egg
VITAMIN B1 is found mainly in pork, fish, wheat bread, green peas
VITAMIN B6 is majorly found in pistachio nuts, tuna fish, turkey and chicken meat, prunes and bananas
VITAMIN E can be found in high quantities in almonds, spinach, olive oil, broccoli, pumpkin, kiwi
MINERALS
Elctrolytes are responsible for the transmit of electrical imoulses from the nervous syetem to the muscular system. Deficiency of such electrolytes may cause weakeness and shaking. Listed below are the food products rich in minerals-
- Magnesium rich – green leafy vegetables, almonds, black bean, chocolate, banana
- Potassium rich – white beans, green leafy vegetables, baked potatoes, dried apricot, yogurt, fish (salmon)
- Calcium rich – cheese, yogurt, curd, milk, green leafy vegetables, orange juice, enriched bread and grains.
GOING THE MEDICINAL WAY
Well, not everyone with shaky hands needs a medication but if you and your doctor feel that medications are required, then go with the basic and lighter doses of medications.
Some of the most commonly prescribed medications are –
Essential tremors-
- propranolol (Inderal)
- primidone (Mysoline)
- long-acting propranolol (Inderal LA)