If you suffer from migraines, you are probably willing to try just about anything to get rid of them. Doctors usually have an arsenal of prescription medications to recommend. However, these have varying degrees of success from person to person. Even if the medication helps a little, you may find that the side effects outweigh the benefits. Or you may just dislike the idea of having to take pills for the rest of your life. Regardless of the reason you are turning to natural medicine, here are three ways you may be able to get some help for your migraines.

Migraines and Changes in Lifestyle

When dealing with a chronic ailment, there are always changes in lifestyle that can be made to help. While these are not a migraine cure, they may be able to help you curtail some common migraine triggers. Here are a few suggestions:

• Track your triggers – Using a journal, you may be able to determine what your triggers are. This is important because triggers can vary from person to person. Once you know your personal triggers, you can try to avoid them as much as possible.
• Avoid obesity – There is some preliminary research that connects migraine frequency to an increased body mass index (BMI). Therefore, diet and exercise may play a role in reducing how often migraines occur.
• Eat less, more often – Skipping a meal can be a migraine trigger. To avoid going too long between eating but still keep weight in a healthy range, you may want to try eating smaller meals but eating more frequently throughout the day. At the very least, maintain a good schedule for your three regular meals.
• Get better sleep – Any change in your sleep schedule can trigger a migraine, whether you sleep too long, not enough, or you wake up throughout the night. In order to fix your sleep schedule, try having a set time to go to bed and wake up every single day. The body thrives on this sort of regularity.

The Three Ways Exercise Combats Migraines

Exercise is the natural enemy of migraines. While it isn’t the answer to all of your health problems, here are three ways that having a regular exercise schedule can be beneficial if you are a migraineur.

• Weight – We’ve already mentioned the benefits of keeping weight down to a healthy range if you get migraines. Exercise is an important component when it comes to weight control.
• Blood flow – Migraines have been linked to reduced blood flow to the head. This is why things like smoking are so bad for migraineurs. It also explains why a little caffeine can actually help as long as you don’t overdo it. However, regular exercise is the best way to expand the blood vessels and maximize blood flow on a long-term basis.
• Stress relief – Exercise releases feel-good hormones that counteract cortisol and other stress hormones that can trigger migraines when the levels fluctuate too much. Since stress is one of the primary triggers for migraines, exercise is one of the best natural ways to reduce the frequency of migraines.

Alternative Therapies for Migraine Help

People try many different alternative therapies to get natural relief from migraines. While the results vary from person to person, that is no different from the results people get from traditional medicine, and the side effects from natural remedies are often less dangerous or perhaps nonexistent. Let’s take a closer look at one particular alternative therapy that has had a lot of success for migraine patients in case studies. We would like to introduce you to upper cervical chiropractic care.

What's Unique with Upper Cervical Chiropractic?

If you have never heard of this chiropractic subspecialty before, we should start with a brief introduction to the differences:

• Focus – Upper cervical chiropractic focuses on adjustments of just the top two bones in the neck. This makes sense for migraine patients since these bones can affect the brainstem, blood flow to the brain, and cerebrospinal fluid drainage, all of which can be related to the onset of migraines.
• Precision – Upper cervical chiropractic care involves the use of diagnostic imaging to pinpoint misalignments down to hundredths of a degree. Because of the sensitive location of these bones, fractions of a millimeter matter, so the measurements and adjustments have to be precise.
• Gentle Adjustments – The last thing you want when you are dealing with migraines is to have someone twist and pop your neck. Fortunately, precise adjustments are low force, so there is no sharp jerking motion or cracking sound involved. This is a gentle and safe way to get your C1 and C2 back into proper alignment.

Receive This Unique Form of Care Today!

If you are suffering from migraines, it makes sense to have your upper cervical spine checked to see if this is the potential root of your problem. An upper cervical chiropractor is specifically trained to detect and correct the type of misalignment that is most likely to lead to migraines. So your first step on the path to natural help is to schedule a consultation with a practitioner near you.

An examination will be the best way to know if upper cervical chiropractic can help. However, neck pain or a history of head or neck injuries are also good indicators that this could be at the root of your health condition. Talk it over with an upper cervical chiropractor today to learn more. You can find one of our preferred doctors by using the search feature on this website.

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