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Get fit
If you were to stack all of the unused gym IDs hiding in wallets and purses around the world, you could probably construct the world’ s tallest gym— and still few people would find time to visit it. But exercise is a proven stress reliever, and a regular fitness regimen will better equip you to handle life’ s mental and physical rigors.
“ Exercise takes your mind off things,” Dr. Rosenberg says.“ It makes you more physically healthful, relieves muscle tension, gets the blood moving, reduces inflammation and provides an overall sense of well-being.”
Dr. Rosenberg recommends breaking a sweat for at least 20 minutes three times a week to pre-emptively reduce stress levels and improve overall health. If you’ re concerned exercise might exacerbate your condition, he suggests low-impact activities, such as yoga and tai chi.
The greatest challenge for most migraineurs is getting up and active, which is why Hall urges people to start small. Simply learning meditation, relaxation techniques, controlled breathing or visualization can be useful, especially for people who are unable to fall asleep at night.
“ You don’ t have to do aerobics to reduce stress,” she says.“ You can walk up and down the stairs, or place fivepound weights by your chair and lift them while watching TV. You’ re still building muscle and reducing stress.”
Reprogram your mind, rehabilitate your body
“ Retraining your nervous system to relax is a process. Migraineurs need to relax every single day for at least 10 minutes, which is sometimes hard to do,” Farmer says.“ A behavioral response to pain and stress has to be unlearned.”
Biofeedback( see full story on page 36) is one way to change your physiological response to stressful events. Attaching a biofeedback system, which monitors the body’ s heart rate and tension levels, will let you know when it’ s time to relax— either through measured breathing or quiet meditation. The at-home systems are small, roughly the size of an iPod, and can be purchased for as little as $ 100 at amazon. com. When Kubasak feels a migraine coming on, she enters lockdown mode.“ I immediately go to a quiet place and practice deep-breathing exercises and guided imagery, where I picture myself in happy surroundings to get away from that sensation for a minute,” she says.
7Be patient with yourself
Gaining control over your stress triggers
doesn’ t happen overnight. Stress is an evolving, shapeshifting organism that affects each host differently. Often the biggest impediment to successfully taming stress is the fear of change.
“ There are all sorts of barriers to doing the right thing, even if the patient knows what the right thing is,” Dr. Rosenberg says.
That’ s why he prefers to start by focusing on the lowest-hanging fruit. Then he gradually nudges migraine and headache sufferers onto a positive path.
“ For most people, it’ s more realistic to take small steps in the right direction with positive reinforcement rather than trying an immediate whole-life makeover,” he says.
When headache patients know which medications to take, develop an action plan for life’ s twists and turns, and adopt coping strategies, they can begin to let go of the anxiety and chronic components of pain, Dr. Rosenberg says.
It’ s not easy, but that doesn’ t mean the struggle isn’ t worthwhile. Just ask Kubasak, who recently experimented with acupuncture as an alternative migraine treatment.
“ My acupuncturist creates a stressless environment during my appointments that helps me get centered and become a little more understanding and patient,” Kubasak says.“ I don’ t expect to ever completely rid myself of migraines, but I hope I can control my stress and make them less frequent and less debilitating in the long run.” HW
www. headwisemag. org | National Headache Foundation 35