As one of the leading causes of pain and discomfort across all age groups, migraine headaches can lead to debilitating effects that may impact your day-to-day activities. These headaches are typically associated with abnormal sensitivity to pain, impaired regulation of blood vessels, and inflammation. Although many, the wide selection of allopathic treatment options available only provide temporary relief and may come with a hefty amount of side effects that will put your overall health at risk. This wide variety may put you in a dilemma on which medication is most effective in relieving your symptoms, diverting focus away from the main issue: over-the-counter and prescription medications only relieve your discomfort temporarily and do not target the root cause of the problem. Owing to such uncertainty, it is crucial to explore a different approach that is effective, cost-efficient, and without added risks to long-term health. Butterbur (Petasites hybridus), feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), and ginger (Zingiber officinale), are a handful of herbs proven and tested throughout history to manage and prevent migraine headaches.
Understanding Migraines
Migraine attacks are long-term and recurrent causes of moderate to severe headaches typically occurring on one side of the head, which has been attributed to reduced productivity and well-being. Migraines are believed to have been caused by the activation of the trigeminovascular pathway, which sends signals to the brain. When activated, peptides which dilate blood vessels, cause inflammation to the outer covering of your brain, and modulate pain are released, ultimately triggering a migraine attack. Allopathic treatment options are set to provide quick relief from pain and other migraine-related symptoms, restore functional capability, and prevent recurrence of your migraine attacks. Despite such claims, this treatment approach may impose detrimental effects on your overall health in the long run as its use has been associated with vision changes, cognitive decline, organ damage, and relapse within 48 hours after experiencing relief!
Herbs in History
Botanical medicine has been used for centuries across cultures to manage mild and severe forms of ailments, relying on the healing power of nature for optimal health. Various plants with healing properties have been used by the oldest civilizations to effectively manage different conditions and symptoms. Various Asian traditional medicine systems have used ginger for over 5000 years to manage disease! When properly integrated with the identification and elimination of your personal triggers, butterbur, ginger, and feverfew are effective in not only preventing and managing acute attacks, but also in totally relieving your burden of migraine headaches.
Mechanism of Action
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Mitochondrial
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Helps Reduce Inflammation
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Nutrient Supplementation
- Essential fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have immunomodulatory properties that will help regulate your immune response and reduce inflammation that can promote the progression of multiple sclerosis through stabilizing cytokine levels in the blood.2
- Lipoic acid. This wonderful supplement has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties that can help taper down the progression of multiple sclerosis and reduce chances of relapse.2 Additionally, lipoic acid has wonderful antioxidant properties that can help regenerate vitamin E, glutathione, and vitamin C, which are other forms of antioxidants that can help repair damaged tissues.2
- Vitamin D. Low vitamin D levels in the body can increase your risk of experiencing severe symptoms when you have multiple sclerosis. In fact, majority (84%) of people previously diagnosed with multiple sclerosis also have deficiencies in vitamin D.2 The benefits of vitamin D supplementation in people with multiple sclerosis is rooted in its abilities to disrupt the abilities of inflammatory cells to enter your brain.2 Since vitamin D can be over-supplemented leading to toxicity, you should have your levels checked prior to, and during, supplementation.
Lifestyle Changes
Did you know? Healthcare providers in the past used to ban people with multiple sclerosis from exercising because they previously believed that higher body temperature and use of nerve fibers from exercise can worsen disease symptoms and affect the course of illness!2 This belief has been debunked as medicine learns more about the nature of multiple sclerosis. Presently, regular physical activity and exercise are known to be beneficial in improving cognitive function in people with multiple sclerosis.2
Regular exercise is also critical for helping to maintain function and mobility as you manage your condition. Your exercise routine may need to be optimized to help you maintain or improve your strength and activity levels while preventing increasing inflammation or over-fatiguing your muscles, but there is no need to give up enjoyable physical activities. Additionally, regular exercise can improve your heart health, metabolic functions, bone strength, mood, and blood sugar levels, thereby nurturing other aspects of your health!
Stress Reduction Techniques
Stress can worsen multiple sclerosis symptoms and increase your risks of having disease exacerbations, as this phenomenon creates more lesions in the brain.2 Hence, managing your stress levels through nurturing the connection between your mind and body can help prevent these consequences. Mind-body practices such as yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.
Take note: Talking to your healthcare provider before exploring different options for your health and changing your treatment regimen is essential. This is to ensure that the regimen you are taking is best for your optimal health. Additionally, this step helps prevent unwanted effects that may cause more harm than good to your body.
Nurturing Your Brain Health
Multiple sclerosis can affect different processes within the body, causing unique sets of symptoms that can inevitably affect your day-to-day lives. This is why following a personalized and holistic approach that targets nutrition, supplementation, lifestyle changes, and medications (whether conventional or botanical) is important to achieve remission and nurture optimal well-being. At Natural Path to Wellness, we will help you in every step of this road to wellness. Talk to us today!
This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your licensed naturopathic physician or other licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your medications or supplements.
Disclosures & Policies: This and other blog posts may contain affiliate links. Please view our disclosures page for more information.
REFERENCES:
- Tafti D, Ehsan M, Xixis KL. Multiple Sclerosis. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; March 20, 2024.
- Pizzorno JE, Murray MT. Textbook of Natural Medicine. Elsevier; 2021.
Societal and cultural factors have a significant impact on men’s health across the globe. Men are often implicitly and explicitly encouraged to maintain a status as a model of strength without the need for help, which is often perceived as weakness. According to the World Health Organization, men are less likely to seek medical attention for an illness. Furthermore, while engaging in medical care, they are less likely to detail their symptoms to a professional. Certain barriers exist that could impact the accessibility of health services for men. These may include but certainly aren’t limited to constraints of working hours, availability of information regarding men’s health, and stigmas surrounding access. Culturally, we need to work to acknowledge the importance of preventative health appointments, particularly for men, and encourage healthy lifestyle choices.2
The Role of Primary Care
Primary care services are important for promoting health across all populations as primary care is often a first step in incorporating preventative measures into one’s lifestyle to avoid illness. With men being less likely to access primary care, there is an increase in emergency care received by men for acute intervention.2 Not only does this prove to be a greater financial cost, such measures may not fully address the source of the illness. Preventative care has the potential to save costs, lower incidence of chronic illness, and even save lives.
You don’t have to be sick to go to the doctor. Attending primary care appointments regularly can help establish a baseline of health and allow one’s doctor to more quickly identify changes in health in order to advise on preventive measures of disease. Additionally, primary care providers can point to a network of resources including specialists and mental health professionals. A holistic approach to men’s health is necessary in order to address, for example, the psychosocial factors that affect accessibility to health services while identifying physical and emotional risk factors in one’s lifestyle. Initiatives to improve men’s health could also benefit their partners and families by improving men’s quality and duration of life.
You don’t have to be sick to go to the doctor. Attending primary care appointments regularly can help establish a baseline of health and allow one’s doctor to more quickly identify changes in health in order to advise on preventive measures of disease. Additionally, primary care providers can point to a network of resources including specialists and mental health professionals. A holistic approach to men’s health is necessary in order to address, for example, the psychosocial factors that affect accessibility to health services while identifying physical and emotional risk factors in one’s lifestyle. Initiatives to improve men’s health could also benefit their partners and families by improving men’s quality and duration of life.
The Benefits of Prevention
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Chronic illness, such as hypertension and coronary artery disease, are widely discussed as prominent factors in mortality (causes of death), but medical concerns specific to men are rarely highlighted, save for advertisements for erectile dysfunction, perhaps. In actuality, erectile dysfunction is a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Did you know that increased erectile dysfunction is also a symptom of diabetes in men? Other conditions, which could impact a man’s quality of life significantly, may include premature ejaculation, testicular cancer, and testosterone deficiency syndrome.2
Practitioners need to prioritize preventative care during appointments and encourage open communication throughout. Education is a key element of prevention, as it is difficult to make lifestyle changes without clear advice and positive implications.1 An important goal in education is to provide patients with greater autonomy in their own health. With greater knowledge of risk factors and how information applies to him specifically, a patient has the opportunity to be more confident in making decisions regarding his health, including whether to seek additional or alternative health services. When it comes to screening, for instance, it is important that men understand the impact of family history on recommended ages for screening. While the following are some of the generally recommended ages, your primary care provider can adapt these guidelines for your specific set of risk factors:
Practitioners need to prioritize preventative care during appointments and encourage open communication throughout. Education is a key element of prevention, as it is difficult to make lifestyle changes without clear advice and positive implications.1 An important goal in education is to provide patients with greater autonomy in their own health. With greater knowledge of risk factors and how information applies to him specifically, a patient has the opportunity to be more confident in making decisions regarding his health, including whether to seek additional or alternative health services. When it comes to screening, for instance, it is important that men understand the impact of family history on recommended ages for screening. While the following are some of the generally recommended ages, your primary care provider can adapt these guidelines for your specific set of risk factors:
- Colonoscopy: 45 years old
- Prostate exam: 55 years old
- Blood pressure screening: yearly
- Lung cancer screening: yearly between 50 and 80 years old if smoking history
Promoting Long-term Health
One of the key goals of preventative care is to establish a trusting relationship between patients and their healthcare providers in order to fully understand lifestyle factors that could contribute towards disease. Regular appointments are important for building trust and creating a personalized plan of care for optimal health. Additionally, identifying early risk factors for disease could save time and money down the line without the need for more drastic interventions. A gentler approach applied in the early stages of a disease can be beneficial for promoting enhanced quality of life and longevity. Discover the naturopathic approach for your optimal health today!
Author
Daelyn Quinn is a graduate of the University of South Florida, Class of 2024. She studied Cell and Molecular Biology, as well as Spanish, and has been accepted into a nationally accredited Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine program. Outside of academic and professional pursuits, she enjoys exploring cities with friends and family, running outdoors, and reading next to one of Florida’s many bodies of water.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your licensed naturopathic physician or other licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your medications or supplements. Disclosures & Policies: This and other blog posts may contain affiliate links. Please view our disclosures page for more information.
REFERENCES:
- Aoun S, Donovan RJ, Johnson L, et al. Preventive Care in the Context of Men’s Health. J Health Psychol. 2002; 7(3): 243-252. Published May 2002. doi.org/10.1177/1359105302007003219
- Moon DG. Changing Men’s Health: Leading the Future. World J Mens Health. 2018 Jan; 36(1):1-3. Published online 21 Dec 2017. doi.org/10.5534/wjmh.18101
Sleep is essential in nurturing our overall health and wellbeing. In fact, good sleep helps improve mental health, learning, immunity, memory, cardiovascular health, hormone balance, and reproductive health.1 However, many people sleep less than the recommended hours or suffer from sleeping problems that affect the amount and quality of rest they get from sleeping. More than 1/3 of people living in the United States sleep less than the recommended time, with 50-70 million adults diagnosed with sleep problems.1 This is a pressing concern because sleeping problems due to lifestyle and work habits, environmental conditions, or health issues can cause disease or exacerbate your already present disease conditions. Improving your sleep hygiene through behavior and lifestyle changes throughout the day helps improve the quality and duration of your sleep, protecting and nurturing your long-term health.
Sleep & Relaxation Support |
Probiotic & Herbal Formula |
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The Different Stages of Sleep
The stages of the sleep cycle have vital roles in nurturing cognition and healing after a whole day of work! It is important to note that you do not necessarily have to experience all sleep stages every time you lie in bed. However, the amount of sleep stages and sleep cycles determine the quality of your sleep, precisely why you may feel well-rested after a good night’s sleep, while feeling groggy when someone randomly wakes you up! The four stages of sleep are classified into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) or rapid eye movement (REM):
- Stage 1 NREM sleep (light sleep) begins from the moment you close your eyes until you fall asleep. Stage 1 is the entry to sleep and typically covers 5% of a full night's rest!
- Stage 2 NREM sleep (slightly deeper sleep) occurs when there is lack of eye movement, slowed heart rate, and decrease in body temperature. Stage 2 covers 50% of a full night’s rest!
- Stage 3 NREM sleep (deep sleep) occurs during the early half of the night and covers 20-25% of your night’s rest. During stage 3, your body works wonders in conducting repairs and strengthening your immune function for another day of activities. The number of deep sleeps you experience actually lessens as you grow older.
- Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep follows deep sleep and consists of rapid eye movements with an absent tone of your skeletal muscle, preventing you from moving too much while you sleep. This is the stage of sleep where you experience dreams and memory consolidation! During this stage, you will have a faster heart rate and irregular breathing. REM sleep covers 20% of a good night’s rest.
What is a Healthy Sleep?
A good night’s rest is achieved through repeated and rhythmic cycles between the four stages of sleep. Typically, your sleep is considered good when you experience 4-5 cycles of sleep stages. Each sleep cycle typically lasts for 90 minutes, with an episode of REM sleep in between light and deep sleep.1
What is the recommended duration of my sleep?
The amount of sleep you should get everyday depends on your age and underlying health problems. Sleeping for 8-10 hours is recommended for healthy teenagers, while healthy adults should rest for 7-9 hours each day. Healthy older adults, on the other hand, should sleep for 7-8 hours per day.
THE Benefits of a Healthy Sleep Hygiene
- Heart Health: While sleeping, your body experiences a relaxed state where your blood pressure lowers, heart rate slows, and your systems focus on rest and recovery. This much needed rest improves your heart health, while added stress from not getting a good night’s sleep increases your risks of developing heart disease.
- Brain Activity: Long hours of work and activities during the day produce waste products in the brain, causing us to feel tired and out of focus when we lack rest. To remove such waste and feelings of tiredness, the glymphatic system works wonders during sleep.1 Hence, lack of sleep and disruptions while resting minimizes the ability of the glymphatic system to remove waste products, making you feel extra tired the day after!
- Immune Function: Health sleep is vital to maintain the integrity of your immune system, nurturing your immune defenses against pathogens or inflammation.2 Depriving yourself of a good night’s rest could lead to the dysregulation of your immune response and inflammatory control, increasing your chances of having infection or worsening your current condition.
- Memory: Your memories become filtered and stabilized for long-term use while you sleep. During stage 3 of NREM sleep, your memories are gradually transformed and integrated into multiple areas of your brain, ensuring this information is kept and linked with the way you think, talk, move, and perceive, while your brain's activity during REM sleep assists in nurturing these events.
- Mental Health: A good night’s rest improves mood and concentration, while poor sleep can lead you to feel easily irritated and fatigued. In reality, sleep and mental health has a complicated two-way relationship. Mental health disorders and some medications can cause insomnia and disruptions between the stages of sleep, while insomnia and sleep problems may also trigger mental health disorders, such as depression. Additionally, poor sleep hygiene is associated with anxiety, addiction, and poor mental well-being. To learn more on how to achieve a good night’s rest, sign up for our Free Homeopathy for Insomnia Mini-Course.
Common Sleep Disorders
Sleep disorders are significant predisposing factors that increase your risks of disease, along with poor work performance, problems in managing daily activities, unfortunate road accidents, and increased sensitivity to pain.1 Common sleep problems include:
Intake of certain over-the-counter medications and psychiatric drugs, as well as existing medical conditions can also lead to poor sleep quality. Talking with your naturopathic medicine advisors in exploring natural options to achieve good quality sleep is an empowered step you can take to nurture your long-term health.
- Insomnia: associated with difficulties falling asleep, remaining asleep, or both. Insomnia severely affects daytime activities and typically results from stress, noise, temperature, heavy light, travel, and work schedule. Symptoms of insomnia include daytime sleepiness, exhaustion, irritability, and problems with recall or concentration.
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): associated with blockage or compression of your airway with each breathing episode while you sleep, disrupting your sleep cycle and causing you to persistently get woken up in the middle of the night. The narrowing of your airway due to this condition may decrease your body's oxygen levels and could contribute to increased blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks in the long run.
- Circadian rhythm disorders: occurs when your internal clock is not effectively synced with the light-dark pattern of your environment, which are typically experienced by people who work during night shifts. You may have difficulties trying to get quality sleep after working all night or feel like you have not rested at all! Symptoms of circadian rhythm disorders include insomnia, excessive sleep, emotional problems, and digestive issues.
Intake of certain over-the-counter medications and psychiatric drugs, as well as existing medical conditions can also lead to poor sleep quality. Talking with your naturopathic medicine advisors in exploring natural options to achieve good quality sleep is an empowered step you can take to nurture your long-term health.
Improving Your Sleep
Medication and alcohol intake have been an all too common practice to induce sleep and finally get a good night’s rest. Although effective temporarily, these impose long-term health risks as chronic use causes emotional and physical dependence, daytime sleepiness, increased risk for falls, and higher deaths.1 Nutrition and lifestyle changes that focus on following healthy sleep-promoting practices should be the leading options to consider to achieve quality sleep. You should:
- Aim to sleep at least 7-9 hours every night. Sleeping less than 7 hours each night can severely impact your health, impair immune function, cause problems in your daily activities, increase the tendency to commit errors in work and school, and increase your risks of getting into accidents. In a similar way, sleeping more than 9 hours can impose several health risks in healthy individuals.
- Set a consistent time within the night for sleep. Sleeping and waking up during the same time each day, even during the weekends or when you are going on trips, is a good start to improve your sleep hygiene! Following a regular sleep schedule helps regulate your body's biological clock, improves daytime energy, and makes it less difficult for you to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning. Additionally, synchronizing your body' internal circadian rhythm with the environment improves your mental health and bodily functions.
- Limit alcohol intake. Despite being a sedative which can help make you fall asleep faster; alcohol actually disrupts the quality of your sleep and can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. Alcohol affects your overall sleep quality and duration by causing longer stage 3 NREM sleep, while delaying and decreasing REM sleep.1
- Avoid eating bulky meals and unhealthy foods close to your bedtime. If possible, you should avoid intake of food 2 hours before sleeping at night! Eating late eventually leads to sleeping late, shortened sleep, and weight gain. Additionally, eating shortly before falling asleep may cause acid reflux, since gravity becomes less effective in keeping your stomach acid in place while you lie down, increasing the possibility of backflow of this acid into the esophagus.
- Avoid naps during the late afternoon or evening hours. Naps help you relax, improve your mood, and help you become more alert. However, these naps should only be taken for 20-30 minutes during the early afternoon. Longer naps can cause you to become disoriented or groggy after waking up, especially when you enter deep sleep. If you experience insomnia, it may be best to avoid nap time as these may make it more difficult for you to sleep during your desired bedtime!
- Engage in regular physical activity and exercise. Exercising moderately not only improves your physical and emotional well-being, but also helps you relax and sleep at night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends doing exercise anytime each day as long as it does not compromise your sleep schedule!
- Avoid exposure to light or screens before bedtime. Unfortunately, it is best not to use your phone before sleeping! Melatonin levels typically rise during evening hours to prepare your body for sleep. However, exposure to heavy light reduces melatonin secretion, signaling your brain to stay awake. When you lack sleep, your alertness the next day becomes impaired. During evening hours, reducing your exposure to heavy light, and avoiding using your electronic devices as much as possible helps you sleep early and improves the quality of your sleep. Other practices to help minimize light exposure during the late hours include sleeping in a cool, dark room, wearing blue-light blocking glasses, or using your favorite sleeping mask to cover your eyes.
- Avoid drinking coffee or beverages that contain caffeine in the afternoon or evening. Oh no! Caffeine from your favorite drinks actually delays sleep, reduces the span of hours you stay asleep, and impairs the overall quality of your sleep. Caffeine does this by blocking the adenosine receptors in your brain, which are meant to produce sedative effects and make you fall asleep. As the half-life of caffeine is 6-7 hours, minimizing its intake during the late afternoon or evening can help you get a good night’s rest.
- Practice mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness, healthy breathing patterns, and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body with sleep initiation, rest, and digestion.1 Mindfulness techniques also help minimize your anxious and stressful thoughts, helping you get restful sleep!
- Create an optimal bedroom environment for sleep. Making your room dark, cool, and quiet during bedtime and using ear plugs or tools that block out noise promotes deep sleep. Refraining from studying, working, or watching television on your bed can also prevent yourself from getting distracted before sleeping. Mattresses, beddings, pillows, and comfortable sleeping positions help promote quality sleep. However, you may have to avoid several sleeping positions when you are diagnosed with sleeping disorders or musculoskeletal problems.
The Naturopathic Approach to Healthy Sleep
Achieving a good night’s rest is important in helping the body recharge for its daily activities. Optimizing your lifestyle and environment, exploring botanical options, and following healthy sleep patterns are essential practices to consider to finally achieve and maintain quality sleep. Discover more about the naturopathic approach to achieving healthy sleep.
Author
Kate Nemenzo studied in nursing school as an academic scholar. Her passion for holistic health has led her to become a registered nurse who promotes optimal care throughout her patient’s therapeutic journey. When not writing, she spends her time crocheting, watching Korean dramas, and playing the guitar!
This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your licensed naturopathic physician or other licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your medications or supplements. Disclosures & Policies: This and other blog posts may contain affiliate links. Please view our disclosures page for more information.
REFERENCES:
1. Baranwal N, Yu PK, Siegel NS. Sleep physiology, pathophysiology, and sleep hygiene. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2023;77:59-69. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2023.02.005
2. Garbarino S, Lanteri P, Bragazzi NL, Magnavita N, Scoditti E. Role of sleep deprivation in immune-related disease risk and outcomes. Commun Biol. 2021;4(1):1304. Published 2021 Nov 18. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02825-4
THE BLOG AT NATURAL PATH TO WELLNESS
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Natural Path to Wellness values community education and welcomes contributions from writers with a background in Naturopathic Medicine, natural health and wellness, herbalism, homeopathy, Nature Cure, and more.
Medical Reviewer:
Marney Johnson, ND, MSCI-TS is a Naturopathic Doctor and Naturopathic Medicine Advisor with a background in allopathic (standard American medicine) medical research, Dr. Johnson, is uniquely qualified to evaluate current scientific research and offer insight to help you make sense of how you can integrate natural medicine into your health plan. She is passionate about the roles of Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Nature in health and constantly seeks new ways to make these accessible through food as medicine, encouraging new, healthy habits, and promoting interaction with Nature in its many forms.
Disclosures & Policies: This and other blog posts may contain affiliate links. Please view our disclosures page for more information.
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