Meditation Effective in Reducing Migraines, Study

Meditation can help reducing Migraines, a new study reveals.  

Migraine is the chronic neurological disorder that is characterized with recurrent moderate to severe headaches. It causes intense a throbbing sensation in one region of the head that is generally accompanied with nausea. Researchers at Wake Forest Baptists aimed at assessing the safety, feasibility and effects of meditation and yoga intervention in adults suffering from migraines.

"Stress is a well-known trigger for headaches and research supports the general benefits of mind/body interventions for migraines, but there hasn't been much research to evaluate specific standardized meditation interventions," said Rebecca Erwin Wells, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author.

The study involves 19 adults who were randomly divided into two groups. One group with 10 participants received mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSBR) intervention and nine underwent standard medical care. As a part of the study, the subjects were made to attend 8 weekly classes during which they learnt MSBR techniques and they were instructed to practice for 45 minutes on their own at least 5 additional days per week.

Using objective measures of disability, self-efficacy and mindfulness, the researchers evaluated the participants before and after the trial period. They also maintained headache logs throughout the trails to measure the frequency, severity and duration of the migraines.

"We found that the MBSR participants had trends of fewer migraines that were less severe," Wells said. "Secondary effects included headaches that were shorter in duration and less disabling, and participants had increases in mindfulness and self-efficacy - a sense of personal control over their migraines. In addition, there were no adverse events and excellent adherence."

They noticed that MSBR participants had 1.4 lesser migraines per month that were less severe. When compared to the control group, the participants' headache duration was significantly shorter. Based on this, the researchers conclude that MBSR is a safe and feasible therapy for adults suffering with migraines. 

The study was documented in the Journal of Head and Face Pain.