What are some of the ways that mindfulness techniques can help with migraines?

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Migraine headaches are a common and debilitating headache condition. Migraine headaches are common among persons between the ages of 18 and 44 when they are at their most productive. Many common migraine drugs have difficult-to-tolerate side effects, which can drive people to not take their prescriptions as prescribed or to stop taking them entirely. According to a recent study, up to 20% of migraine patients utilized opioids to relieve their pain in the previous year. As a result, better and more bearable treatments for migraine sufferers are desperately needed.

According to research, combining behavioral therapy with preventative medicine treatments prevents headaches better than medication alone. Mindfulness meditation has also been linked to improvements in people suffering from chronic pain, such as migraines.

Stress is a well-known migraine trigger. Furthermore, stressful events have been linked to persons having more regular or chronic migraines as opposed to only having them rarely. Mindfulness can help you feel less stressed, have a better emotional response to stress, and be happier overall. This medication can help patients with migraines minimize their pain and unpleasant sensations. By teaching someone with migraine to reassess their suffering in a nonjudgmental manner and adjust their appraisal of the pain, mindfulness has the potential to increase emotional and cognitive control of pain. Furthermore, mindfulness techniques can aid in the management of melancholy, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing (an exaggerated negative reaction to pain events), all of which can contribute to chronic migraine.

The research

A group of researchers looked into whether mindfulness-based stress reduction could help persons with migraines in a recent study published in JAMA. Half of the migraine sufferers in the trial were randomly allocated to one of two groups. The mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment included eight weeks of two-hour in-person classes that included sitting and walking meditation, body scanning (sequential attention to different parts of the body), and mindful movement (bodily awareness during gentle stretching with hatha yoga), all of which brought attention back to the natural rhythm of the breath. Participants were also encouraged to develop their capacity to address physical and mental impressions of their pain, and audio files were provided for at-home practice.

The headache education treatment consisted of an eight-week standardised program of two-hour in-person seminars that covered the biological, psychological, and environmental processes linked to migraines, headache triggers, and stress. During each lesson, the patients were given time for questions, replies, and discussion.

The outcomes

When compared to patients who simply received headache education, mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment significantly improved people's disability, quality of life, self-efficacy, pain catastrophizing, and sadness. Monthly migraine days were reduced in those who received mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment, but they did not differ substantially from those who received headache education. The authors of the study speculate that the lack of change in headache frequency could be due to the use of an active control group, such as headache education, which could lead to a reduction in headache frequency.

Most crucially, the research showed that mindfulness-based therapy can help people with migraines. Participants in the study may have learned a new method of processing pain through mindfulness, which could have a substantial impact on their long-term health. The study's findings have significant implications for both patients and clinicians, and the research is ongoing. What you can do to help

Many healthcare experts, such as headache specialists, pain specialists, neurologists, and primary care physicians, have begun to include mindfulness-based treatment into their practices or have sought out mindfulness-based programs or specialists for their patients.

Patients with migraines can also practice mindfulness at home in a variety of ways. Migraine sufferers can incorporate some of the mindfulness-based activities listed below into their daily lives, including during a migraine headache.

Read More Rest pause training workout

Accept yourself and your current situation.

Direct your consciousness to your body and breathe while lying on your back or in a comfortable posture with no distractions. Examine your feet, legs, hands, arms, and other body parts as you scan your body.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath while sitting in a comfortable and calm environment. Try doing breathing exercises while paying attention to your breath sensations as you inhale and exhale.

Outside in nature, sitting or walking meditation can be quite calming. Concentrate on the sensations of standing and the small movements that help you maintain your balance while you walk.

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