How Salt Could Prevent Migraines

Himalayan salt is rich in electrolytes and minerals. Not only can it help with migraines, but it also strengthens the immune system and helps to balance the acid-base balance.

A migraine attack paralyzes you, the pain determines the day, when nausea comes along, you feel as if the whole world is united against you. You just want to hide away. There can be connections between migraines and salt, read here why!

What is migraine

Migraines are a popular excuse, but those who actually suffer from it know what it really feels like. Migraines cause predominantly one-sided, throbbing, slowly increasing and long-lasting pain (4 hours to 3 days).

Symptoms also include nausea and / or vomiting, diarrhea and an increased need to urinate.

The perception of light, noise and smell is then uncomfortably painful. This leads to the need to retreat to darkened rooms, to isolate oneself and to sleep.

There are two different types of migraines. The most common type is without aura, the rarer form with aura. It then begins before the onset of the headache.

This is mostly a flickering vision (or temporary loss of vision) in front of both eyes, which then lasts for about 30 minutes.

It can rarely go as far as short-term blindness. Other patients also notice a change in their perception of sight, touch, hearing or smell.

Slurred speech, muscle weakness and dizziness or lighter, increasingly worsening headaches are also typical. Typically 10 to 30 minutes pass between the onset of this aura and the onset of the migraine headache.

Some people have only 1 to 2 migraine attacks in their lifetime, others 1 to 2 attacks per week. There is absolute freedom from pain between attacks.

The likelihood of the disease is highest in young to middle age, it mainly affects women.

Causes of Migraines

Scientifically speaking, there is no directly proven relationship between migraine triggers and physical reactions. Every migraine sufferer experiences different triggers and causes.

From a purely physiological point of view, the start of the migraine attack is an irritation of pain-mediating nerve cells in the brain.

This happens through the action of external stimuli (for example certain foods or a change in sleep rhythm). Or through internal stimuli (for example stress or overload).

The irritation of these pain-mediating nerve cells leads to a vasodilation in the area of ​​the meninges. Then to tissue water leakage from the vessels, which are responsible for the migraine pain.

In the aura phase, there is a temporary dysfunction of brain cells, which are responsible for the failures such as impaired vision.

Treatment of migraines

Of course you can treat migraines with special medication, reduce the pain, reduce the nausea and “doctor” the symptoms so that improvement occurs. But if you know the trigger of your personal migraines, you can target it there.

This can eliminate the cause and prevent the migraines from recurring. Relaxation or stress management training is sure to be effective in preventing migraines. A fluid deficit is very often the cause.

If our body lacks only 2% fluid, our performance is reduced, the supply of the cells with nutrients is then restricted by the changed flow properties of the blood. This can lead to irritation of the nerve cells in the brain.

Often you do not notice that you have an unbalanced fluid balance. Depending on the ambient temperature and humidity, the body loses up to a liter of water through sweat and breath during sleep, for example.

It is therefore important not only to ventilate your bed and bedroom in the morning, but also to replenish the fluid lost at breakfast. A “symbolic” cup of coffee in the morning is not enough, however, it should be more!

It is advisable to consume at least half a liter of additional liquid for breakfast. If you do not do this, you will start the new day with a fluid deficit and this can encourage migraines.

Migraines and salt

Salt is one of the foods that can, but does not have to, trigger a migraine attack. There are studies that indicate that salt is a trigger especially in people who already have an increased salt consumption with their everyday diet.

Many ready meals and processed foods contain too much salt. If the proportion of it in the diet is too high,  then there is an imbalance of the minerals in the body.

This can lead to irritation of the nerve cells in the brain that are responsible for migraines.

So if you have a lot of finished products in your diet, it could be an effective migraine prevention tool for you to drastically reduce your salt consumption. Remove ready-made products from the menu and consume more unprocessed foods.

Because salt contains sodium. Sodium regulates the fluid balance and is also important for all muscle and nerve functions. Too much (or too little) of it can irritate nerves.

If you consume less salt than your body needs because you are on a low-salt diet or because you sweat a lot and excrete salt through sweat, a lack of salt can also trigger migraines.

Salty food can then prevent – or stop – migraine attacks. Try it!