Is there something in the quackery?

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

Tai Chi is a traditional form of exerise developed in ancient China which combines deep breathing and slow deliberate movements.  It has already proved helpful for back pain, rheumatism and psychological disorders, but can it help people with chronic neck pain? A group of 114 people suffering from chronic neck pain performed either Tai Chi or did nothing at all for their neck pain for three months.  By the end of the period, those who did the Tai Chi reported significantly less pain and disability, plus overall improvement in their quality of life ompaired with those who did nothing.  Tai Chi is also as effective as standard exercises say researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. This means for those people suffering from chronic neck pain there is evidence that Tai Chi help relieve chronic neck pain and is effective as standard exercises. Reference R Launche, C Stumpe, J Fehr, H Cramer et al (2016) The Effects of Tai Chi and Neck Exercises in the Treatment of Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Journal of Pain Vol 17, Issue 9, 1013-27  

Following on from last week’s entry on building resilience, it is important to state that resilience don’t just help you manage stress but it fosters inner strength to help you meet goals, life challenges and achieve success. Most of my clients hold more or less physical tension which I would like you to think of as a bad habit that relaxation will help you break.  Relaxation is like changing the idling speed on a car.  When a car turns over too quickly, wasting expensive fuel and putting a strain on the engine, the mechanic can reset the idling speed to a much lower level.  Similarly when busyness, concerns, time pressure have speeded us up too much, making us tense and irritable, we can learn how to let go and attain a much calmer state of being.  So taking the time to learn what relaxes you! It is worth re-emphasising the point that it is possible to make an enormous difference to your state of mind through yoga, tai chi, relaxation and meditation and all other sorts of physical exercise. While most of celebrate our wins, it is also important to celebrate when we do good for others, as often other’s don’t notice.  We all know life has its ups and downs, when your life is in turmoil, you may not do things "perfectly".  Rather than worrying or simply surviving turmoil, why not ask what you can learn from the situation.  But don’t beat yourself up, remember you always do your best, when you know better, you do better! One habit that I try to cultivate to help put a smile on my face especially when I am feeling down is to cultivate a gratitude attitude.  However bad my day goes, before I got to sleep I try to think of three things that I am grateful for.   These don’t need to be big things; it can be as simple as “I am grateful that the transport system ran on time” as I had a busy day.  A gratitude attitude helps foster joy, fulfilment & peace of mind.