By Samantha Brodsky for Pop Sugar
If you've experienced a migraine, you know it can be downright debilitating. But you might be wondering if it's a good idea to hit the gym or turn on your favorite YouTube workout video when your symptoms strike. After all, no pain, no gain, right? Wrong. Two experts warn against exercising during a migraine, but they agree that exercise can help prevent migraines in the long run. What Is a Migraine? Migraines typically occur on one side of the head and are more severe than a tension headache, said Sara Crystal, MD, neurologist, and headache specialist at the NY Headache Center and Cove medical adviser. She told POPSUGAR that migraines tend to last longer, often can't be treated by over-the-counter medication, and usually require a personalized treatment plan. Migraines are accompanied by specific symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and light and sound sensitivity. You can also get a migraine with aura, meaning that you experience neurological symptoms like bright spots or stripes of light, loss of vision, and even slurred speech. Pinpointing the exact cause of migraines is difficult, but some triggers include stress, hormones, and certain foods - and many of these triggers differ from person to person. Here's a stat for you: three times as many adult women as men suffer from migraines. Why? Dr. Crystal said that hormonal changes play a significant role. "Migraine incidence rises at the onset of menstruation. Menstrual migraine is very common and occurs when estrogen levels drop," she explained. It's unknown exactly how estrogen affects migraine, "but we do know that estrogen influences not only the susceptibility to migraine, but also the processing and perception of pain." Exercise Can Prevent Migraines "One of the best ways to prevent migraines is to manage stress in your life," Dr. Crystal said, noting it's well-documented that increasing aerobic exercise can help prevent migraines, predictably because it's helpful with stress relief. "With exercise, it can be a ripple effect. Besides releasing endorphins, which reduce pain, exercise can help reduce stress and improve sleep, which in turn can help reduce headache frequency." Elizabeth Barchi, MD, clinical assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Health and expert in sports medicine, agreed. She said that working out regularly can potentially help with chronic daily headaches too, not just migraines, though exercise can cause headaches due to intense exertion and increased blood pressure. It's generally a good idea to start with light cardio, she advised, and build your heart rate from there. But "getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and regular exercise can help reduce chronic headaches if you're someone who's susceptible to them," she noted. "Especially tension headaches." Should I Work Out If I Have a Migraine? No. "As a general rule of thumb, don't exercise if you're in the middle of a migraine, as it can make the pain worse," Dr. Crystal said. "However, when you are symptom-free, exercise can be effective at preventing future migraines." Dr. Barchi stressed the importance of rest if you're going through a migraine. Don't head to the gym; instead, try to treat it, she said. Avoid excessive physical activity that could exacerbate the pain. Other Preventative Measures and Treatment For Migraines Preventative measures and treatment are different for everyone, but if over-the-counter pain medication doesn't work for you, Dr. Crystal said that some of the common preventive tactics include blood-pressure-lowering medications like beta blockers, anti-seizure medications such as gabapentin and topiramate, and antidepressants. In terms of treatment, Botox is effective for patients with chronic migraine, she said. "It is a series of injections to the forehead, temples, back of the head and shoulders, given in the office. Insurance companies typically require that patients fail at least two of the standard oral preventive medications mentioned above before paying for the treatment." The FDA also approved a first-of-its-kind monthly injection in May 2018, which works to block calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a molecule involved in migraine attacks. At the first sign of a migraine, Dr. Crystal recommends taking medication like a triptan, if prescribed to you, and to use an anti-nausea medication if needed. Anti-inflammatories can be used in conjunction with triptans, she said. Of course, consult your doctor for the best treatment plan for you, and treat your symptoms before trying to get your workout on. The treadmill and Class FitSugar can wait until tomorrow.
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By Marlene Cimons for the Washington Post
Some people are morning exercisers. For them, an early run or swim is as much a part of their wake-up ritual as that first cup of coffee. Others can’t abide the idea. They need a nighttime workout to rid themselves of the day’s stresses. Does it make a difference? Several recent studies suggest that it does. But it’s complicated. One recent paper indicates that morning exercise may activate certain genes in the muscle cells, boosting their ability to metabolize sugar and fat. While scientists say this finding requires further study, they think it ultimately might help those who are overweight or suffering from Type 2 diabetes. An evening workout, on the other hand, uses less oxygen, making workouts more efficient and improving athletic performance, potentially a boon for serious competitors. “Human exercise performance is better in the evening compared to the morning, as [athletes] consume less oxygen, that is, they use less energy, for the same intensity of exercise in the evening versus the morning,” said Gad Asher, a researcher in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s department of biomolecular sciences, and author of one of the studies. “It means, for example, if a person needs to go for a run, he will reach exhaustion earlier in the morning compared to the evening,” Asher said. “In other words, he will be able to run for a longer duration in the evening compared to the morning under the same running conditions.” Asher’s group put mice on treadmills at different times of day and studied their exercise capacity at different intensities and regimens. They found that overall exercise performance was vastly better — about 50 percent on average — during the “mouse evening,” compared to the morning hours. They also studied 12 humans and saw similar results. Overall, the human subjects consumed less oxygen while exercising in the evening, compared with morning. A second group led by Paolo Sassone-Corsi, director of the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism at the University of California at Irvine, also put mice on treadmills, but took a different approach. The researchers looked at the changes in muscle tissues after morning workouts, specifically the glucose breakdown and fat burning. In analyzing the tissue, they found that exercise seemed to provide the most beneficial effects on metabolism during the mouse equivalent of what would be late morning for humans. “We identified that time of exercise is critical in order for exercise to be beneficial” in metabolizing sugar and fat, Sassone-Corsi said. Sassone-Corsi believes this is controlled by a process that relies on a specific protein, HIF1-alpha, which directly regulates the body’s circadian clock, the internal mechanism that influences human cycles of sleep, awakening and eating, among other things. “Circadian rhythms dominate everything we do,” Sassone-Corsi said. “At least 50 percent of our metabolism is circadian, and 50 percent of the metabolites in our body oscillate based on the circadian cycle. It makes sense that exercise would be one of the things that’s impacted. “There is a time for exercise, resting or food intake,” he adds. “The metabolic cycles are not adapted to respond to external stimuli the same way at day or night. ” So which is the better time to exercise — morning or evening? It depends on your goals. Elite and otherwise serious athletes — marathon runners, basketball and soccer players seeking a competitive edge, for example — might choose evenings to train or compete. Similarly, those who schedule important sports events might consider holding them at night to ensure optimal performances. (Not to mention that this also would probably be more compatible for TV coverage.) “If you wish to break the world record, or your personal time, I assume [evenings would be better],” Asher says. Those who worry more about their weight and controlling their blood sugar — and less about shaving a minute or two from their marathon time — might go for mornings, when post-workout cell responses that influence metabolism are much stronger. Jonas Thue Treebak, associate professor at the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen and co-author of a third study, agrees. “At this point, we can only conclude that the effects of the two appear to differ, and we certainly have to do more work,” he says. Moreover, there are other things beyond performance and weight loss to take into account. “Exercising late at night may interfere with sleep as it tends to energize you and enhance alertness, although some people like to exercise at the end of the day to help relieve the stresses of the day and prepare for evening activities, which is fine,” says Edward R. Laskowski, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine and professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation. “Morning exercise has the advantage that no matter what else happens during the day, you have incorporated your physical activity. It also increases alertness and helps cognitive functioning.” His Mayo Clinic colleague Michael Joyner, who studies how humans respond to different physical stresses, including exercise, agrees. The research “tends to suggest that morning exercising before eating is helpful in terms of ensuring or maximizing some of the positives effects of exercise on metabolism,” he says. “To me, the other positive of exercising first thing is that you get it done before the day catches up with you.” But the most important thing — as a well-known athletic shoe company used to say in its advertising — is to just do it, regardless of when. “The ‘do something’ message is far more important than the ‘do something at a specific time of the day’ message,’ ” Joyner says |
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