By Kathy Prendeville
Is there anything worse than a migraine? The pain can be so intense that it causes anything from nausea to light sensitivity and even facial numbness.
If you suffer from migraines, you’ll know too well that sometimes, the only thing you can do is just give in and curl up on the couch until it passes.
Think we’re being dramatic? According to The Migraine Research Foundation, migraines are the sixth most disabling illness in the world, and over 4 million people worldwide suffer from chronic daily migraines.
Making matters worse, 90% of those who suffer are unable to function normally when one strikes.
If you’ve tried everything under the sun to rid yourself of the pesky headaches, we’ve got something that could work – and it’s a lot closer to home…
Apparently sex is a good way to naturally relieve migraines and cluster headaches. Yes, you read that right, but who are we to argue with science?!
A study published in Cephalalgia, found that sexual activity relieved the pain of migraines or cluster headaches, severe, one-sided recurring head pains, for up to a third of patients! The report says that some of the patients used sex as a kind of headache therapy – whatever works for you…
“There’s a portion of patients with migraines, about one-third, who experience relief from a migraine attack by sexual activity,” said study researcher Stefan Evers, a neurologist and headache specialist at the University of Münster in Germany.
The researchers aren’t sure exactly why this happens, but hypothesize that the rush of endorphins – AKA the brain’s natural painkillers – during sex may numb the intense pain of migraines.
If you need more proof, researchers from the University of Munster in Germany also found that sexual activity was successful in treating migraines in 60 percent sufferers and in one-third of patients with cluster headaches.
“Our data suggest…that sexual activity can lead to partial or complete relief of headache in some migraine and a few cluster headache patients,” a researcher said.
“Our results show that sexual activity during a migraine attack might relieve or even stop an attack in some cases, and that sexual activity in the presence of headache is not an unusual behavior.”
Well there you go!
