Hey, Dr. Axe here. Doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com. Today, I'll be talking
about tension versus migraine headaches and other headaches. Also, how to get rid of these
common headaches. If you're a person or know somebody who struggles with tension headaches
and migraine headaches, I'll be going over the natural treatments, remedies, essential
oils, and supplements to get rid of those today. So let's start off and talk about the
differences here in terms of where you'll feel the headache.
Now, if you have a tension headache, you'll tend to feel it in two areas. One, the front
part of your head as well as the base of your neck where your neck meets your skull. Sort
of that lower neck area, shoulder area, as well as the front of your head. That's a tension
headache. A cluster headache is when you start to feel like sort of right over one region
of your eye. A sinus headache is when you get a lot of pressure right in the sinus region.
It sort of starts going up into your forehead. Then we have migraine headaches. Now, migraine
headaches will often affect one side of the body, an entire side, and those are the most
debilitating by far of all headaches. And then mixed headaches can also often times
be a combination of both migraine and tension headaches together and that tension headache
can often then trigger that migraine headache. So, let's first talk about tension headaches.
Now, tension headaches tend to be a dull aching pain around the forehead. Sometimes they almost
wrap like a band around your head. Now, it's pressure and tightness across the forehead,
muscle aches and pains at sort of the base of your neck and head. And sometimes if they'll
get bad enough, really, you just get sensitive to loud noises. You just get really annoyed
very easy with things because you're experiencing so much pain in tension. And also, there can
be tenderness when you're touching those areas right around your scalp line. And here are
some ways to naturally manage a tension headache. Number one, you got to manage stress properly.
You know, emotional stress will trigger muscle tension and it all goes back to this fight-or-flight
response. Now, imagine a lion or bear were chasing you, your muscles are going into activity
mode. Energy leaves your core, your digestive tract, your liver, your organs, and goes to
your extremities, your blood-flow. But what happens if that happens over time over and
over again, there's this tension that builds up in your neck and shoulder region increasing
your risk of a tension headache. Number two, improve your diet. This is key
to get rid of tension headaches. Really you want to follow a diet that's anti-inflammatory.
Something that really causes relaxation. You want to make sure you're getting plenty of
foods that are high in magnesium. Now, magnesium foods can include things like a spinach, okay?
So, spinach and green leafy vegetables are very high in magnesium. Certain types of nuts
and seeds like flax seeds and almonds. Specifically, almonds can be higher in magnesium as well.
Grass-fed beef. But you want to be doing a lot of foods that are anti-inflammatory and
a diet that's really rich in magnesium. Another favorite magnesium rich food of mine is avocados.
But get more magnesium. Number three. You know, probably the most
common and effective natural treatment for tension headaches is chiropractic care. You
know, chiropractors, especially chiropractors that focus on the upper cervical spine in
the neck region, can do specific types of adjustments to remove tension and pressure
off of the head and neck. In fact, many people have claimed that after going to see a chiropractor,
their headache was gone immediately and there are actual medical studies showing that chiropractic
adjustments are more effective than taking medications at getting rid of headaches without
the side effects. Now, chiropractic adjustments work in several ways.
One, they increase motion and relieve tension. Number two, they can increase your parasympathetic
nerve system especially when you're adjusted at the Atlas bone at the very top of your
neck. There's a nerve called your vagus nerve that runs from that C1 area, out to your organs,
increases your parasympathetic nerve system, decreases that sympathetic nerve system, that
fight-or-flight response, balancing cortisol, reducing stress on the body. So, chiropractic
care actually has a multiplication effect or multiple ways it can reduce tension headaches.
Also, chiropractors also recommend rehab exercises to improve posture which can also, in fact,
reduce tension and migraine headaches. You know, if you're sitting at a desk all day
and you're like this, your head forward, your arms out. Poor posture can cause tension headaches.
You want to get that head back over your body. So, you really want to be conscious of good
posture to relieve tension headaches as well. Another thing chiropractic care can help with.
Number four here is exercise. Again, exercise increases blood flow, blood flow tends to
reduce muscle tension. And some exercises are better than others. Swimming is great.
Going out for a light jog or run but just doing anything to really increase that blood
flow is great. Hot yoga, Pilates, barre, all great forms of exercise for reducing tension
headaches. Number five is acupuncture. You know, acupuncture
and using needles can actually release and relieve muscle tension and also increase circulation
in an area especially relieving stress around that neck and head region. And last but not
least, massage therapy. You've got tense muscles? Massage therapy can help really relax those
muscles especially at the base of the neck and head there as well. And there's another
treatment I'll mention too that often times chiropractors will do, sometimes osteopath
or therapists. It's called craniosacral therapy. That's another thing that can be actually
effective for treating tension headaches. Now let's talk about migraine headaches. Of
all headaches, migraine headaches are the most debilitating of all of them. In fact,
when somebody has a migraine headache, it can often cause them to really put them to
a point where they can almost do nothing. The pain is so severe. So severe pounding
on the head especially one side of the head. It can actually cause nausea and vomiting
from getting a migraine headache. Sensitivity to sound and light, irritability, blurred
vision, shakiness, numbness on one side, increased thirst. And really inability to concentrate
or even speak or hold a conversation can happen with severe migraine headaches.
And migraine headaches are a warning sign that something is going on deeper in the body.
That's your body saying, "Hey, something is not right here." Here is some natural ways
to combat a migraine headache. Now, number one I'm saying by far is changing
your diet. There are specific foods that will absolutely trigger a migraine headache. Gluten
is a big one. You know, if you are consuming gluten, sometimes migraine headaches can be
connected to a condition called leaky gut syndrome. Now, your intestines act like a
net and if you get a lot of inflammation in your gut, you can get holes in your gut . . . we
all have holes in our lining but you can have these doors open up or these . . . imagine
a net gets a tear in it. So certain things start getting through the net getting into
your bloodstream. They can recirculate and then affect the brain. Gluten, sugar, processed
food additives, toxins can actually cause these brain issues triggering a migraine headache.
So, eliminate gluten. Conventional dairy products, sugar, and any type of inflammatory food from
your diet. And you may also consider getting an IgG food
test, antibody test to see if there's a food you're intolerant to or sensitive to. But
a diet high in vegetables, fruits, and wild meats and even something like a sprouted rice,
those are the safest foods to eat on a regular basis to combat or completely prevent migraine
headaches completely. Number two, you need to get enough sleep.
You know, sleep is so important for reducing inflammation, for healing of the brain in
the body. You want to make sure you're getting eight plus hours of quality sleep a night.
Number three, managing stress. We know stress can trigger all sorts of things. And listen,
all of these things can also trigger that leaky gut syndrome I was talking about. They
could be at the root cause of migraine headaches including diet, not enough sleep, managing
stress. All of these can increase cortisol which, in fact, increases that leaky gut syndrome.
Number four here, keep a migraine journal. This is one of the biggest things you can
do. When you get a migraine headache, go back and look at what you did the day before, everything
you ate, how much stress you were under, and what were you doing. Figure out what that
. . . because for many people, there are a couple triggers that will cause that headache.
Again, whether it's gluten or sugar or whatever it is that will trigger that migraine headache.
Number five, limit screen time or light exposure. Now, if you're at your computer all the time,
those blue lights. Remember, it's all about your sympathetic nerve system. We have this
balance in our body. Your sympathetic nerve system is lifting weights, it's running, it's,
"Hey, a bear is chasing you," you're fighting or flying. A lot of us live in that state.
Your parasympathetic nerve system, your blood flow is external to internal, your energy
to where your body is digesting food. So, think about this, when you're out running
a 5K or a triathlon, you can't digest a burger, right? It kind of, like, you just can't digest
it properly because all your energy is on the outside. When you are in a parasympathetic
state, your body is then breaking down. It's digesting, it's secreting certain hormones,
certain digestive enzymes. Blue light exposure from your cell phone, your computer, and a
TV screen, it puts you in a sympathetic state. To get in a parasympathetic state, you need
to go on walks in nature. You know, getting outside more, doing. . .reading a good novel.
Those things put you in a state that's in a state of relaxation. You need to get in
that parasympathetic state. One great way to dampen the effects of blue
light is to get blue blockers sunglasses that have red or orange lenses or yellow lenses.
And you can actually find those blue block light sunglasses. That's something I wear
every night starting at 8:00 p.m. I actually wear those blue blocker sunglasses if I'm
on my phone, computer, or watching TV to dampen the effects of . . . because it actually also
affects your melatonin levels, your sleep hormone. There's well that kind of fluctuates
with cortisol. I know I'm getting off in the weeds here but here's the point, too much
blue light can trigger a migraine headache. Number six, use essential oils. You know,
essential oils such as lavender, roman chamomile, Ylang-ylang, even peppermint. These oils relax
the body. Peppermint has more of a numbing effect because of the compound found in it
called menthol whereas lavender and chamomile and Ylang-ylang are more relaxing, but using
essential oils you can diffuse them, you can rub them on your body.
One of the biggest things I recommend for people to get migraine headaches or tension
headaches is make a bath, take one cup of Epsom salts, 20 drops of an essential oil
like lavender, and soak in the tub for 20 minutes every evening. And that has great
benefits for completely relaxing the body, preparing you for sleep, and can be great
for fighting any type of headache. So essential oils and Epsom salts have magnesium known
as the relaxation mineral that can go in the bath there as well.
So here's what you need to know about getting rid of tension headaches. You got to manage
your stress properly. Take that healing bath I just mentioned with Epsom salts and lavender,
go for a walk outside, schedule things in your week [inaudible 00:11:45]. You know,
here's the thing, you can't just say, "I'm going to manage stress." Okay? You've got
to plug it into your schedule. Take time right now, write down all the things that are causing
you stress then write down all the things that relieve stress or just that you love
to do. Get rid of those things that cause you stress, start adding in those things that
you love to do. That'll make a big difference. Improve your diet. Remember, gluten free
anti-inflammatory foods, get chiropractic care. The benefits of chiropractic for headaches
specifically is tremendous. Exercise, acupuncture, massage therapy. And when it comes to migraine
headaches as I mentioned earlier, the other things can help. In fact, chiropractic care
can be great for migraines but changing your diet, again, gluten, sugar, hydrogenated oils,
conventional dairy products, these can all trigger that leaky gut syndrome which is the
root cause of migraine headaches. Improve your diet, get quality sleep, manage stress,
keep a migraine journal. This is big. Figure out what that trigger is. Limit light
exposure or get those blue blocking sunglasses, use essential oils. And sometimes I say in
terms of diet you can do an IgG, what's called a food sensitivity or a food intolerance test
to see maybe you got your own form of Kryptonite that's actually causing you allergies. You
know, some people are allergic to eggs and they don't realize it. Some people are allergic
to certain nuts and seeds. You may not know the food but that's why you got to keep a
journal. And if you can't figure out with a journal, then get some of that testing done
to see what that sensitivity is. And, hey, if you've enjoyed this live training
video, make sure to subscribe here to the page. I've got a lot more content and videos
coming out on essential oils, herbal remedies, and natural treatments. And, hey, if you want
to learn more of my in-depth treatments for migraines and tension headaches, just look
up online. Just Google search "Dr. Axe migraine headaches." I've actually got a lot more supplements
and essential oils recommended on that page there as well if you do a Google search for
"Dr. Axe migraines" or "Dr. Axe headaches" there online. I want to say thanks for watching.
I know this information is going to help you overcome your headaches.
Hi, Dr. Axe here. I want to say thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video and
also don't forget to subscribe if you want to get more great content on things like herbs,
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