Migraine – Part 3
In part 1, I explore what a migraine was and how it differed from headaches and they shared a herbal remedy, last week in part 2 I looked at potential nutrional diffciences. This week, I want to explore some growing evidence about the impact of exercise.
When you are having a migraine it is natural to want to rest and for some people exercise can trigger a migraine. So I was slightly surprise about the growing evidence that suggest exercise can help migraine sufferers. Firstly, the evidence all relates to a certain type of exercise known as High Intentsity Interval Training (HIIT). This is where you alternative periods of intense exercise with periods of less intense recovery.
Recently scientists compared the effects of twice weekly HIIT sessions with moderate continous exercise and a control intevention and found that HIIT had most beneficial results. They found HIIT significantly reduced the munber of migraine days amoung sufferers.
Reference
Hanssen H, Minghetti A, Magon S, et al. Effects of different endurance exercise modalities on migraine days and cerebrovascular health in episodic migraineurs: A randomized controlled trial. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2018;28:1103–1112. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13023
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- Read a book or a magazine - I appreicate this is very old school. The reason is studies have shown that brain activity during sleep is better regulated after reading a physical book compared with reading a screen.
- Have a hot shower or bath at night. When you get in all your blood comes to the surface of your body, so when you step out, your core temperature starts to drop. This stimulates sleep.
- Go to bed at the same time every nights - it's possible to "programme" the body to get used to falling asleep at a certain time every night.
- Yoga or light exercise can help relax muscles and release any tension.
- Complementary therapies - these promote relaxing, reduce stress and anxiety and are therefore ideal for a good night's sleep.
- Breathing exercises or medication - taking deep breaths helps the body switch off from the flight or fight more to rest-and-digest mode.
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