SOURCE The HealthCentral Network

If you can bear with the initial (possibly) “fake” laughter in the news-clip, you’ll see that this is backed up by science. And I mean no insult when I talk about fake laughter, because you’ll hear in the clip that the well-being effect is even induced by fake laughter.

More on laughter’s therapeutic effect.

So…. next time someone sends you a corny joke in your email, enjoy it anyway.  A good belly laugh is just what the doctor ordered.

Other stress reduction techniques are available in my ebook.

Recently I recently published an article on migraine and caffeine intake. It mentioned  the improvements found in a study done on adolescents who drank a liter of cola a day and suffered from daily migraines.

Quitting cola eliminated chronic headache in 100 percent of the 36 subjects. Headaches totally ceased in 33 (91 percent) of the subjects. Daily or near-daily headaches ceased in the remaining 3 subjects, though they continued to get infrequent migraines without aura.

Such a spectacular result must really make it worth your while to try eliminating fizzy drinks for a period (say two to three weeks).

(1) Hering-Hanit R, Gadoth N. Caffeine-induced headache in children and adolescents. Cephalalgia 2003;23:332-335.

Thanks to Barry Spencer for his confirmation of the excellent results of this study.

Two large reviews of studies have found that people having acupuncture for at least eight weeks had fewer headaches than those who only treated themselves with painkillers when the headaches developed.

Should you decide to try acupuncture, be sure to find a qualified and registered practitioner. Your health professional should be your first port of call. We’d love to read of your results in comments to this blog.

Interestingly, sham acupuncture was as effective as real acupuncture at preventing migraines, and nearly as effective at preventing tension-type headaches. Sham acupuncture is where needles are inserted incorrectly.

The reviews were done by researchers in Germany, Italy, the US and the UK.

You can read the full article here.

Source: The Guardian (UK) Wednesday 21 January 2009

For more drug-free ways to treat or prevent migraine subscribe to a free mini-course at: StopTheMigraineMadness.com.

Their analysis of 7,601 men and women 20 years of age or older found that being overweight or obese increased the likelihood of headache by 1.2 to nearly 1.4 times.

You can read more details about the study here.

The team apparently adjusted for other factors potentially associated with increased headache risk such as gender, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, diabetes and cholesterol levels. However, a sufferer with poor blood sugar control and a bad diet could be pre-diabetic, so not adjusted for,  and thus affect the findings.

The researchers look forward to further studies to investigate “whether obesity is causally related to the development of headaches”, but in the meantime, weight management might be a useful approach in headache management.

What is interesting, but less commonly reported, is that an increased prevalence of headache may be associated with being underweight as well, but there weren’t enough underweight study participants for sound analysis.

Analysis of a migraine sufferer’s diet is one the first areas a nutritionist will consider.

Migraine and the Serenity Prayer.

The Prayer is: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” It already had special significance for me as it had been on the Christening gift for one of my sons and I found it particularly moving at the time, but it had rather slipped from my memory, as things do with time

It was brought back to me in timely fashion by the Free my Brain From Migraine post above in the summer of 2008, a day or so after discovering that my long awaited holiday had been canceled, by the organizers, without bothering to tell us – and without returning the money for the tickets we’d already bought.

If ever there were circumstances designed to provoke a stress migraine these were they, but thanks to this uplifting and well-timed post, I escaped and although we couldn’t change the fact that the holiday had been canceled, we could change the venue. My lovely friends who were going with me, rushed about and made alternative arrangements for a few days together at another venue. We had a great time, and despite a scandalously wicked plate of chocolate deserts I remained migraine free.

The ticket money was never returned, so that and the hotel deposits were a total loss – but these problems are minor on the scale of other people’s problems.

Just a few days ago I emailed John, a long-time friend who was the first to introduce me to the benefits of complementary therapy and who actually changed my life-path by inspiring my career change. I was devastated to receive a return email saying that he had passed away.

John co-authored my migraine ebook putting in enormous amounts of work solely in return for a link to his online business Chlorella World. His generous and extensive contribution included the section on migraine and prayer. He was a devout Christian and one of the kindest, most hard-working and genuine people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. He is an example to everyone that hard work can pay off as shown by the success of his online business. Chlorella World has now been taken over by Daniel Bruce who has pledged to uphold the same business standards and ethics that John worked to, and having placed my first order under Daniel’s stewardship, he’s living up to his promise.

This post is a tribute to the memory of my dear friend and mentor. I’m confident that he would be pleased to be linked with the lovely Serenity Prayer as another way to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life that can sometimes get on top of any of us, bringing on another migraine.

I hope you’ll find it helpful in your life.

I’d very much like anyone who tries, or has tried, anything I post about, to add their comments.

Here’s a new, and very unusual, therapy I read about the other day. Oil Pulling. A business colleague was very enthusiastic in telling me it had worked for his long-term migraines, and provided significant other health and well-being benefits too.

It’s always good to learn of something new that others have found helpful, so head on over to the Oil Pulling website, to learn more.

A quick Google of Oil Pulling found lots more information and, without going through it all I only found one “debunking” article. (Plus a warning NOT to gargle with it.)

As with much of complementary therapy, what works for one person will not work for another – so this could be something that will help your migraines – or other health conditions. Not something I’ve tried myself, but if YOU try it, please add your comment.