What To Do If You Have Migraine?

Migraines can be debilitating and interfere with normal day-to-day life. It is important to understand what brings on a migraine and how to deal with it. This article explains the cause of migraines, breaks some myths and also explains the short term and long term actions you can take to get relief.

Understand your migraine

Migraine is body’s way to tell you that something is wrong. Listen to your body, understand what’s happening & take supportive action.

You get a migraine because of the following reasons…see which one is applicable to you:

1. Digestive stress: You are eating the wrong foods, even though you may be thinking you are eating healthy…Understand what is ‘healthy’. Read our food related blogs on Body Wisdom.
2. Mental stress: Your mind is over worked, or you are worried, or you are constantly thinking about something… Mind is never at ease, seems to be working forever.
3. Physical stress: You are always on the move…finish one thing and jump on to the other.

Often one blames sun to be the trigger for a migraine attack. In fact the body needs rest & rest happens best in quiet & darkness. Hence when exposed to sunlight, body signals its need of rest to you through a headache. Sun is not the cause, the above mentioned three reasons are.

We understand that migraine is painful, annoying & debilitating…but it doesn’t need to be that way if you treat the root cause!!

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What can you do if you have a migraine?

Let’s break it up into actions you can do over the short term and actions to be taken over the long term –

For immediate relief:

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1. Calm down. Take out time to close your eyes & rest for few minutes every 2-3 hours. Put cucumber slices or rose water eye pads, do shavaasana or do palming i.e rub your palms vigorously to generate warmth and gently place it over closed eyes to block out all light and relax.
2. Do deep breathing exercises regularly…try anulom vilom.
3. Stay hydrated. Have high water content based fruits and vegetables in raw form as and when hunger dictates.
4. Stay away from artificial foods, i.e. packaged, refined, processed…& stay away from vices such as alcohol & cigarettes.
5. Animal products such as meat and dairy products are known migraine trigger foods. It is wise to stay away from such foods during this period.
6. Make a lemon concoction by mixing juice of one lemon with equal quantity of water. This alkalizes your body and brings relief from the throbbing pain.

Longer-term actions:

Longer-term actions require an honest evaluation of all lifestyle factors. In addition to the points listed above, the following factors will provide long term relief.

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1. Start your day with fruits, have a generous serving & do the same in the evening.
2. Have lots of vegetable salad with your lunch & dinner…Try to increase your intake of raw veggies. Start drinking veggie juices.
3. Cut down on all packaged foods, deep-fried food, tea, coffee alcohol, and cigarettes.
4. Focus more on fresh food. Avoid consuming stale food or food which has been refrigerated for long.
5. Eat a primarily whole food plant-based diet
6. Focus on your sleep…you must get peaceful & adequate sleep.
7. Spend a few minutes in the early morning or early evening sun everyday…Soak the sun’s energy, it is the source of all life on earth.
8. Start a regular meditation practice.

Check out the online course to Cure Migraine With Medical Yoga

References:

https://www.drcarney.com/blog/entry/reversing-and-preventing-migraine-headache– Reversing and preventing Migraine headaches