What are the things that you should do to help decrease your headache or migraine?
Today I'm going through some reminders of some things that you really should be doing to help decrease your headaches and migraines, particularly during lockdown. These are things that we should do on a regular basis to help decrease your headaches and migraines effectively.
Hi, I'm Dr. Beth, osteopath here at Melbourne Headache Solutions.
First thing’s first, if you've been indulging in a bit of Netflix or watching the DVD for long periods of time, then it's really easy to get into some really bad posture positions especially when you’re chilling on your couch. Lots of people like to slump down or lean their head on their hand, get into weird, and basically, this puts your neck in a really weird position, and it really encourages headaches and migraines to come into play. You might not get it there and then, but often, people get it a bit later on, or you can get an accumulation of dysfunctions in through your neck, which promotes headaches and migraines. To avoid this, make sure to maintain good posture when you're watching TV –just a straight back and a straight neck. However, even if you have a straight neck but your back is curved, then it's going to promote headaches and migraines from coming into play, particularly if you're doing it for a long period of time. So, make sure that you’re not doing that.
Additionally, if you're watching TV with your head on your hand, you can see that you’ve got quite a curve in through your neck and headaches and migraines are just going to be promoted to come in. So, sitting up nice and tall, it doesn't matter whether your legs outstretched, whether they're hanging down, whether you've got them crossed either way, so long as you're comfortable, it's sustainable and your neck and your back are nice and straight, this is going to promote your headaches and migraines from not coming into play.
Also, if you are doing something for a prolonged period of time, like watching television, then you do want to make sure that you do get your neck moving because we're not designed to do anything for long periods of time. So doing something like neck circles: nice, slow, and gentle neck circles. Make sure that you go both ways because our head is designed to go both ways. Do this on a semi-regular basis –every hour to two hours so your neck doesn't get stiff and stuck and promote headaches and migraines.
It's always better to get your whole body moving than just one area. It's better if you can just get moving, go for a bit of a walk. Of course, we're allowed to go out and do two hours of exercise per day. So going for a full body walk and exercise can definitely help to decrease headaches and migraines. And if you can do something a bit more physically active to get the heart pumping, then that's even better as well. You can obviously do more physically intensive exercise within your house. But doing something like going for a run or a bike ride or have a bit of a jog, or some cardio exercise outside at the park can be fabulous and can definitely help with headaches and migraines.
However, if you do find that any kind of exercise the things I just mentioned are more of a trigger for you, just make sure that your head is staying slightly tucked in –a lot of the time, people poke their heads. So, make sure that your head is slightly tucked in, make sure that you're staying hydrated and that you're hydrated with electrolytes as well.
It is going to be pretty warm over the next couple of days. So, you do also want to make sure that you are hydrated with both water and electrolytes. This helps decrease headaches and migraines. A lot of people during this time period, they do also like to read, but when we read, we have a tendency to look down because our books tend to be in our laps. This promotes headaches and migraines, and it irritates the top joints of our neck. So, we want to make sure that our books are staying up so that we're not encouraging our headaches and migraines to come in.
If you’re doing an activity that you really like, then you should be doing it in a position that's going to be positive for you rather than negative for you. So, as I said, elevate your head and neck up, make sure that you're looking at eye level, nice straight neck, but make sure that it's in a supportive position for your arms as well, so that you're not getting sore shoulders. So, rest your elbows on something as well. Good posture for TV watching. Good posture for reading. Go out and get some exercise. It's good for mental health as well to be outdoors and seeing greenery and get some fresh air. But if you can do something that's a little heart pumping, make sure that you're hydrated both with water and electrolytes.
If you're feeling stressed because quite a lot of people are especially that we’re in the middle of COVID-19, and we're watching a lot of news about it, make sure that you're practicing some form of mindfulness to de-stress because if you've got too much stress and if it's left unmanaged, then this also contributes to your headaches and migraines. One form of mindfulness is being present within the moment. We can practice this just by making sure that our thoughts are always focused on the activity that we're doing. If we're watching TV, we're focused on watching TV. For reading, we're focused on reading and our thoughts aren't buzzing around doing anything else. If we're washing the dishes, we're washing the dishes. If we're cooking, we're cooking and so forth and so on. You can also do meditation and yoga.
These are the things that we always should be doing and not just during lockdown. But since we’re under strict protocols right now and we’re staying indoors, make sure that you get up and do more walking around your house. If you’ve got stairs, walk up and down your stairs every hour or two just to make sure that you get more steps in throughout the day.
Hopefully, you found this helpful and that it's a restful lockdown for you. If you’ve got any questions about your headaches and migraines, feel free to send us a message.
You can also book your FREE consultation with us through here.
