How to Reduce Migraines and Headaches with Hypnotherapy, Nutrition, and Supplements
Migraines and headaches can be debilitating. They can keep you from working, from enjoying time with your family and friends, and even from getting a good night's sleep. If you're looking for a way to reduce the number of migraines and headaches that you experience, hypnotherapy may be the answer. In this blog post, we will discuss how hypnosis can help, as well as nutrition and supplements that can also play a role in reducing headaches and migraines.
Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that uses suggestion and relaxation to achieve a trance-like state. This state can help you to access unconscious thoughts and feelings, which can be helpful in resolving issues such as headaches and migraines. In one study, hypnosis was found to be an effective treatment for migraines, with over half of the participants reporting a decrease in the number of migraines that they experienced.
It's absolutely vital with chronic headaches and migraines that you resolve old unhealed emotional wounds, traumas, and things that you've been holding onto that don't serve you anymore. Old relationships and situations as well as old bad habits and behaviours. This old "stuff" allows stress, worry, and pain to be stored in the body manifesting in different symptoms from mild and infrequent, to very painful and chronic.
There can be many different possible emotional causes of headaches and migraines, so it's important to work with a hypnotherapist who can help you understand the underlying causes of your particular condition. In addition to hypnosis, you may also want to consider making changes to your diet and taking supplements.
In addition to Hypnotherapy, one of the most important things that you can do to reduce headaches and migraines is to eat a healthy diet. This means eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy proteins and making sure to get PLENTY of good fats. It's also important to avoid foods that are known to trigger headaches and migraines, such as processed foods, artificial sweeteners, and caffeine.
Along with changing the kinds of foods you eat, you may also want to consider taking supplements that can help reduce the number of headaches and migraines that you experience. Some of the most beneficial supplements for headache and migraine sufferers include:
Magnesium
Omega-3 fatty acids
Riboflavin
Vitamin B2
Vitamin D3
Melatonin
Melatonin is most often associated with helping you get a better nights sleep; however, some major studies all show some interesting connections between Melatonin levels and migraine headaches.
The development of headaches and migraine episodes may be linked to abnormalities involving the pineal gland that result in low levels of melatonin.
Taking melatonin may help prevent migraine attacks, possibly by protecting the brain from toxic molecules, regulating neurotransmitters, relieving pain, and more.
A study in 49 people with migraine or chronic headaches found that taking 4 mg of melatonin 30 minutes before bedtime for 6 months significantly decreased headache frequency.
And some research suggests that melatonin may also be as effective at preventing migraine attacks and better tolerated than the medication.
Below are some research articles on hypnosis and headaches showing great reduction and oftentimes elimination of Migraines using simple hypnotherapy practices.
Autogenic training and cognitive self-hypnosis for the treatment of recurrent headaches in three different subject groups. In both treatment conditions, the subjects achieved a great reduction in headache pain at post-treatment and follow-up. A relatively simple and highly structured relaxation technique for the treatment of chronic headache subjects may be preferable to more complex cognitive hypnotherapeutic procedures.
Chronic and episodic headaches in children and adolescents are a common problem. Therefore, the growing resistance against frequent use of drugs is quite justified. This study was initiated in search for other helpful therapeutic approaches. The aim was to compare the effect of 5 sessions of hypnosis/ self-hypnosis given at weekly intervals and lasting half an hour each with two psychological treatments requiring the same amount of time, namely behavior therapy and talks to the doctor. Despite the small number of patients, both types of treatments were effective. However, the hypnosis/self-hypnosis seems to be superior not only in terms of frequency and intensity of the headaches but also concerning the patients' ability to keep their headaches and their well-being under control.
In a prospective study we compared propranolol, placebo, and self-hypnosis in the treatment of juvenile classic migraine. Children aged 6 to 12 years with classic migraine who had no previous specific treatment were randomized into propranolol (at 3 mg/kg/d) or placebo groups for a 3-month period and then crossed over for 3 months. After this 6-month period, each child was taught self-hypnosis and used it for 3 months. Twenty-eight patients completed the entire study. The mean number of headaches per child for 3 months during the placebo period was 13.3 compared with 14.9 during the propranolol period and 5.8 during the self-hypnosis period. Statistical analysis showed a significant association between decrease in headache frequency and self-hypnosis training. There was no significant change in subjective or objective measures of headache severity with either therapy.