Natural Migraine Relief

Sorry to state the obvious, but the bad thing about migraines is they are debilitating and painful. The other thing about migraines is that there is some evidence to suggest that a lack of oxygen in the brain could cause them, or at least perpetuate them. If this is true, that's good news.

When you notice the beginnings of a migraine attack taking hold, you probably have an emergency routine you perform to hopefully keep it at bay.
i'll bet your routine goes something like this: grab you favorite pills, guzzle some water, alert some folks who may need to know, maybe eat something, and seek safe shelter where you can relax and ride it out. I want to suggest that you add one more thing to your pre-migraine plan.

Give yourself a few minutes to stand up and stretch when you recognize what may be the first symptoms of a migraine or cluster headache. If you've ever done yoga you know first-hand that it's not a very active form of exercise, but you certainly breathe quite a lot. This deep breathing removes toxins from your bloodstream and literally cleans and oxygenates your cells, muscle tissues, and your brain.

Stretching your neck, your shoulders, your back, and your even your hands can do a lot to provide some much needed fresh oxygen in to parts of your body that need it most. This stretching will also wring toxins and cellular waste from stress and chemicals out of your muscles. The trick is to stretch longer then just a couple of breaths. Most people's natural inclination is to "get comfortable" and stop stretching before they even take a full breath in the stretching pose.

You should aim to complete at least four or five deep, full breaths while holding whatever stretching posture you're performing. For instance, if you decide to bend over and try to touch your toes (which is great for stretching your neck, shoulders, back, and lumbar, as well as your legs), keep that bent-over pose for five full breaths or so. The urge to stand up and get comfortable will be natural and immediate, but persist and hold your stretch while continuing to breathe.

You'll notice deeper and deeper breaths and feel a sense of "relief" if you're doing it right. The good news is that you're actually giving your brain and the leading up to it a good, clean bath of fresh oxygen, as well as helping to remove toxins from these areas as well.