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Can hot summer days trigger your migraines?
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Let's dive into how heat affects your head.
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Migraine Heroes is a podcast for chronic migraine sufferers
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who've seen countless doctors with no results.
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Learn how to reduce your migraine attacks
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without endless medications or constant sacrifices.
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Hello, I'm Diane Ducarme.
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I've helped over 500 people break free from migraine,
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even after suffering for up to 60 years.
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My mission in life?
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To bring this relief to a million people
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using a unique blend of Eastern medicine and Western science.
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In this episode, you will learn what the data reveals
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about rising temperatures
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and migraine frequency around the globe.
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The brain and body changes that happen in the heat
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and why they can lead to summer migraines.
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And three practical cooling strategies
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you can use every day
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to help prevent heat-triggered headaches before they start.
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Stay with me till the end
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because the science is fascinating
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and the solutions are surprisingly powerful yet simple.
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So, at this stage at Migraine Heroes,
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we are capable of demigraining 100 brains in parallel.
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That is quite exceptional, absolutely unique in the world,
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and I'm honestly super, super proud.
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We're aiming to make that a million.
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Now, you need to imagine six brains
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over all of your profiles,
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scanning constantly for progress
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and adjusting the backend of each of your apps
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to reflect the progress done
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and go to the next imbalances using foods.
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And in summer 2022,
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Europe has known its deadliest summer to date
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with more than 20,000 heat-related deaths across Europe.
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I remember because as we were following profiles,
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and you need to imagine back then,
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there was just two of us, Hélène and I,
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we noticed a pattern of increased migraines all over Europe.
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All of the people we were working in Europe with,
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they had just more migraines,
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something we'd never seen before.
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And this was happening regardless
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of the type of stage of remission people were into.
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And I remember Hélène and I made amendments
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to all of the list of foods out of our people
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based in Europe that very summer.
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And in summer 2023, it happened in the US as well,
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and we did the same.
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And so now we monitor that very closely, systematically,
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and we have an AI that monitors weather for us
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to give us alerts, and we adjust things for you.
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Now, what is that all about?
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Summer heat migraines often arise
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from changes in core temperature,
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hydration, and vascular responses.
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And studies show up to 30% of migraine sufferers
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report heat as a trigger.
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A 2018 study in Headache,
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the journal of head and face pain by Smith et al,
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found that when core temperature rises
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just 0.5 degrees Celsius or 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit,
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people with migraine are significantly more likely
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to experience an attack,
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likely due to the cerebral vasodilation
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and upregulated inflammatory molecules.
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Another 2021 article by Leon Garcia in Cephalalgia
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reported that higher humidity combined with heat
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further increases migraine incidence
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due to impaired sweat response and electrolyte imbalance.
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Now, what might be happening in your brain?
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One theory is that your hypothalamus,
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the part of your brain that helps regulate temperature,
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might be extra sensitive if you're prone to migraine.
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Now, I don't love that language.
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It's a very Western language,
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that your brain is extra sensitive.
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Okay, for the time being, I would add.
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So when your body heats up in the sun or during a hot day,
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that sensitivity can trigger pain pathways
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and kickstart a migraine.
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A second possibility is during dehydration.
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When you lose fluids, your blood becomes thicker
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and circulation slows down.
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And that shift in blood flow and electrolytes
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that I was mentioning before
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may trigger something called cortical spreading depression,
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a kind of electrical wave in the brain
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that's been linked to both migraine aura and migraine pain.
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So yes, even your brain is feeling the heat, of course.
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Now, there's been some evidence for cooling and hydration,
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very simple techniques that speak to themselves.
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So these are my first two pieces of advice.
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The first one is a randomized clinical trial
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that showed that applying cooling facial mists
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and roll-cold towels at early headache onset
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reduced duration by nearly 40%.
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The second one is that oral rehydration solutions
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with balanced sodium and potassium
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cut migraine severely by 25% over placebo,
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highlighting how simple electrolyte balance matters
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from a Western perspective.
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So two small gems here,
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cooling facial mists and roll-cold towels
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or rehydration solution with electrolytes.
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Now let's turn to the East
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to see if we can find some confirmations
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and some gems here as well.
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In traditional Chinese medicine,
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summer heat corresponds to the heart
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and small intestine meridians
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and often causes yin deficiency,
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meaning your body lacks its natural cooling fluids,
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its cooling agent.
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Signs include night sweating, dry mouth,
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red tongue and irritability,
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all classic yin fluid depletion.
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According to Ayurveda, summer elevates pita dosha,
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the inner fire leading to inflammation and head heat.
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So that confirms what we see in the West.
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So what do you do?
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Put some slices of cucumber,
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that's my advice number three,
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in water and drink it.
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It is easy, affordable,
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always accessible on that barbecue day
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and will help you cool
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and regulate your temperature from inside.
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else it trickles down into a spiral
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that is much, much harder to overcome on your own.
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Know that migrant heroes are always there for you
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if you reach that level.
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And remember, every small step you take
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moves you closer to freedom.
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and you're no longer alone.
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Keep rising, migrant hero.
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You are powerful, resilient
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and you're no longer alone.
