EXERCISE CAN TRIGGER MIGRAINES

As reported by Ira Dreyfull of the Associated Press in Washington ... a burst of physical exertion can result in a chain reactions that turns into a migraine hours later.

The study was conducted on 21 women who had a history of migraines and 12 who did not. All were given an exercise task that lasted for 30 seconds ... it rapidly increased in intensity until the participants could not do any more. All of the people who never had migraines remained headache free following the task. But, 11 of the women who had histories of migraines deveoloped one after 4.5 hrs to 5.5 hrs after the "task". It is theorized that the 10 women who did not develop headaches did not exert enough "intensity".

Nitric oxide is a body chemical that has been implicated as a "trigger" for migraines in the past. After 30 minutes these participants were measured as having twice the amount of this chemical as when they started. Nitric acid is known to dilate blood vessels and it has been theorized that these "stretched" vessels apply pressure to adjacent nerves in the brain (resulting in a migraine).

The above information was reported in the Windsor Star newspaper.

I would like to add some comments to the above research ... a little bit of stress is good for us, it motivates us. However, excess "stress" leads to "distress" and distress is seldom (if ever) good for the body ... it compromises the immunity system!

Highly stressful situations seem to have caused a delayed reaction that resulted in the migraines. Perhaps, adopting a less stressful lifestyle would do much to alleviate the frequency of migraines. Perhaps a "conditioning" program that teaches the sufferer to train his/her body to relax on command would go a long way to temper the incidence of migraines.

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