UHAM087

70 ^ UNDERSTANDING HEADACHES AND M I G RAI N ES they ever feel really relaxed is when they are asleep. If you can find the time, there are things you can do to relax yourself, but sometimes outside help is also necessary. There is sonie research to show that regular relaxation does help to combat all sorts of illnesses and all sorts of aches and pains, including migraine and other headaches. If you have tension-type headaches, there is a good chance that proper relaxation is going to make a big difference to your headaches, because stress and lack of relaxation could be the main cause of your headaches in the first place.

If you want to try relaxing by yourself, your local bookshop will stock many appropriate books, but you can also try a few simple things at home. Trying to relax will do you no harm; the worst that can happen is that you will simply not succeed! Be warned, however, that if you do succeed you might find that you dozę off to sleep once you are successfully relaxed!

Make surę that you are sitting somewhere very ąuiet andvery comfortable. If you want to play some soft musie then this may help. (Many relaxation CDs are commercially available containing the sounds of naturę.) Close your eyes, and concentrate on your breathing. Take slow deep breaths. Imagine you are somewhere placid that you would love to be. For many people, this might be on a beach or hshing by the side of a very peaceful river. Imagine the sounds of birds or water around you. Keep concentrating on your breathing. If you think about something stressful instead, like work, then concentrate harder on the nice images such as the sounds of naturę around you. Perhaps you can see clouds moving across the sky very slowly or the waves gradually encroaching onto a sandy beach? Do this for 10 or 15 minutes each day. It isn’t a long time, but it all adds up. If you can learn to relax in this way, it can ha ve some benehts for both your physical and psychological health.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis, essentially, involves a special kind of relaxation. The hypnother-apist helps you to go into an altered state of consciousness. When you are hypnotised, you may not remember what has happened, so you must trust your hypnotherapist. Most people can be hypnotised, but it only really works on those people who want to be hypnotised. It is a serious business, so don’t mistake it for the stage-show hypnotism that you might see on television. In the case of headaches and migraines, hypnotherapy is most likely to be used when a person has headaches of no identifiable origin. If your headaches cannot be attributedto a cause, there is a good chance that they are due to something like