Relaxation - A Cool Breeze Blowing Through Your Brain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 18, 2008 -- Living in the 21st Century with a Migraine brain is a conflict in and of itself. We have highly reactive nervous systems, and our systems often react with a Migraine attack. Our world throws a near-constant high level of stimulation at us – in the form of television, radio, internet, work demands, family demands, economic demands, crowds, noise, worries. Our sensitive nervous systems’ tendency to over-react, or shut down, in the form of a Migraine attack, is triggered over and over again by the lives most of us lead.

Relaxation deserves a space in your tool kit for Migraine management! Relaxation decreases the activity of our sympathetic nervous system activity – the fight or flight response, the stress response. Our 21st century lives tend to stimulate that stress response constantly throughout the day. The parasympathetic nervous system controls relaxation, which we need to maintain calm, manage stress, maintain our creativity and our overall vitality and health. A nervous system in balance, in good tone and flexibility, can handle stresses better, including Migraine triggers. To counter the stress response, we must exercise and strengthen our relaxation response.

Relaxation is a part of healthy living that can reduce our Migraines, like getting adequate rest and exercise when we're able. Dr. Ian Livingstone and Donna Novack in Breaking the Headache Cycle indicate that use of regular relaxation and meditation can reduce Migraine frequency by as much as 40%. Other research reported in Psychology Today indicated that regular yoga meditation and relaxation breathing could reduce Migraine frequency and intensity as much as 70%. But if your mind spins, if you think about stressful things, you will lose the benefit of the relaxation. The more deliberate the relaxation, the more systematic and regular you are about practicing relaxation, the more Migraine reduction effect you are likely to see. Meditation, deep breathing, and visualizations are deliberate relaxation and are most beneficial.

Free My Brain will be offering BREEZE relaxation teleclasses – your relaxation practice from home – from work – anywhere where you can sit quietly with the telephone for ½ an hour. You will be on the phone with me and other Migraineurs to learn and use relaxation techniques, and you will also receive an mp3 file of the class to use on your own for relaxation practice.

I have seen my Migraine frequency go down by 75% when practicing relaxation regularly – at least 4 times per week. Left on my own, however, I get busy and forget to do the exercises. The structure of a regularly scheduled class or support group helps. Rather than leaving it up to us, in our busy lives, to manage to schedule in the 20 minutes per day needed, support groups provide an accountability structure to make sure we get the time in.

The Breeze relaxation teleclasses will begin in December! Visit www.freemybrain.com for more information!

headaches     migraine     teleclasses