Dealing With Headaches

One of the most annoying and soul-sucking aspects of having migraines or chronic, debilitating headaches is that the world keeps going on at a rapid rate and expects you to keep up. It is very hard to get any understanding, let alone sympathy, for what you have to go through. This causes more stress and anxiety for the headache sufferer, and can contribute or prolong headache pain.

Enter the perfect perscription for comfort, sympathy and understanding — the family pet.

Paging Dr. Fish

Ever wonder why a lot of doctor’s and dentists’ offices have large fish tanks? Because watching fish in tanks can calm you down. Watching the fish swim and do the fishy things they do even helped blood pressure more than hypnosis, according to one study in the late 1980’s. Aquariums are now recommended for Alzheimer’s patients, becuase patients with regular visual access to the acquarium ate more and were less violent.

There is something incredibly soothing about watching fish swim. Perhaps the motions trigger a relaxing response in our cerebral cortex. Who knows? And for those of us who can’t keep fish for whatever reason, there are always the options of watching videos of fish. Just watching the fish can be like a meditation.

Dogs And Cats

Dogs and cats are champion interpeters of our body language. They seem to know exactly how we are really feeling. They often are a source of comfort and calm by just sitting close or letting you pet them. Perhaps headaches and migraines put out their own identifying odor — we just don’t know yet. But many pet owners have been comforted and helped through a bad time halthwise with the quiet companionship of a dog or a cat.

There are many other health benefits of sharing your home with a dog or a cat or an animal that will let you pet him or her. The calming action reduces stress that can contribute to headaches or migraines, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and give you a reason to get out of bed.

Pets are a bit more predictable than human friends or family members when you are sick. They don’t give you a lecture, either. This can act like a sturdy lifeline through the rough seas of dealing with headaches.

Hope this helps.