Sleep and Migraines
If there is one thing everybody loves to do, it’s sleep. We all, especially after a long and tiring day, yearn for that moment when our head first hits our pillow. Migraine sufferers may have even more reason that the rest of us to want to get a good night’s sleep.
According to a report in the Huffington post, that eight hours of rest is critical to their health. That article reports on a study by a team of researchers at the University of Mississippi, who found a link between people’s lack of quality sleep and the frequency of their headaches. The study went on to report that not getting enough rest also led to increased disabilities from headaches, among migraine sufferers.
A Migraine Study
Using 300 students, whom they grouped into categories of those who suffered from migraines and those who didn’t, the research team monitored their sleep patterns. Those students who suffered from migraines experienced headaches, along with periods of disability, more often. The study showed three significant findings.
- 26.7 percent of the nearly 300 students had migraines
- 85.9% of migraine sufferers had difficulty sleeping
- 62% of non-migraine sufferers had difficulty sleeping
- Among migraine sufferers, poor sleep quality was linked with the frequency of headaches and accompanying disabilities
Their finding led the researchers to write, “Consistent with prior studies on chronic migraine, poor sleep quality is uniquely associated with episodic migraines.” Similar findings that suggested that getting a good night’s rest could decrease the number and intensity of headaches among migraine sufferers was reported by WebMD.
While getting a good night’s rest will help a person find relief from their headaches, it will not help a person get to the root cause of their headaches. The only way to do that is to allow an upper cervical chiropractor to examine your upper neck vertebrae for any misalignments.
Your Migraines and Your Neck
A misalignment of only ¼ of a millimeter in the top two vertebrae in a person’s neck can put pressure on the brainstem, which effects the communication between the brain and the body. Though, using upper cervical chiropractic can alleviate that pressure, normalizing the flow of the necessary fluids from the brain to the body. This, then, allows the body to begin to heal.
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Dr. Andrea Pritchett of Vital Life Wellness Center in Dublin, California is an Dublin Chiropractor and Upper Cervical Expert trained by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA). Her upper cervical clinic also serves Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon and Danville. She is uniquely trained to correct problems in the upper cervical spine (upper neck). This vital area is intimately connected to the central nervous system and problems in this area have been shown to be an underlying cause of a variety of different health problems, including children’s conditions such as ear infections, colic and scoliosis and problems that adults face including migraines and other headaches, fibromyalgia, sciatica, neck and back pain, and more. More information can be found on our website at https://www.vlifewellness.com/