subject: Dealing With A Migraine During Exercise [print this page] Migraines are painful enough without adding exercise to it. However, it is still very important that you exercise.
One of the most discouraging things that will eat away at your motivation to exercise is not feeling well. While some things are easier to work through anyway, other things are not nearly as easy to simply work through and endure the pain.
Migraines are one of these things. Know as severe headaches, migraines are painful enough without adding the pain of breaking down and rebuilding muscles.
However, if you suffer from chronic migraines, you will still have to figure out some way to exercise. You need the benefits that exercise can give you.
There are several things you can do to relieve the pain of a migraine so that you will be able to exercise. Hope is also found in the fact that when people who normally suffer from migraines tend to experience fewer and less severe migraines when they begin exercising regularly.
Of course, in the beginning you may not notice much of a difference. It is important that you approach exercising correctly so that you will stay motivated to exercise, even though you have the added burden of migraines.
How you approach exercising can make a huge difference in whether you trigger a migraine at all as well. There are many psychological triggers of migraines.
Some of these psychological triggers include stress, depression and anger. There are also other physical triggers such as altitude, humidity, sun exposure, lack of sleep, and reactions to certain foods.
Exercise can also be a trigger if you jump in too quickly or in the wrong manner. Properly warming up can definitely help prevent triggering a head ache when it comes to working out.
As your body becomes stronger, exercise will be less likely to trigger a severe headache and the chemicals released from exercising can help reduce the frequency of headaches that you may experience.
Be careful not to rush through your warm up and provide yourself with enough time to exercise, warm up and cool down. This is especially important if you are a beginning exerciser.
As you warm up, you will want to include exercises that allow you to let go of all the tension that you are feeling. This tension may be the cause of some of your migraines and makes you feel tired a lot of the time.
When you let go of the tension, try to let your anxiety and worries leave with the tension. This will make it much more likely that you will not experience a migraine as anxiety is also a trigger.
Another benefit that exercise provides you with is improved blood circulation. Poor circulation can add to the severity of headaches in some cases.
You will also breathe more when you exercise which will bring more oxygen into your blood. Your body will also become more efficient at cleaning the toxins out.
Exercise also combats several other triggers of migraines such as lack of sleep and fatigue. You will also experience an improvement in your metabolism or digestion.
This will help your body get the nutrients it needs to the right places. In general, working out will also help you feel more energetic and cheerful.
Your body will release endomorphins as you work out, which are natural painkillers that make you feel more energetic as well. These can reduce the severity of the headaches that you do get.
After you warm up, consider whether or not you have a headache. If your head is sore, slowly begin your exercise routine and see if the pain increases.
If it does increase, stop and rest for a while. Putting a cool cloth on your head can help it go away and then slowly return to exercising.
If the pain does not go away you will probably want to stop for the day and try again tomorrow. As you start out you will probably want to do something that is not too intense such as working out on a stationary bike.
If you have the luxury of having a stationary bike at home, you will be able to enjoy the ability to simply go and lay down if a migraine develops. This form of exercise also allows you to sit down while you do it.
Start by only pedaling thirty minutes a day at a slightly challenging but relaxing speed and resistance. When you get used to this, increase the difficultly slightly or if you have a bad headache that day, reduce the difficulty slightly and rest for a minute.
