When you listen to music you enjoy, it can distract you from your surroundings. Music and its vibrations can generally help lower stress levels, redirect negative thoughts and help you sleep better. It can also steer your focus away from the pain of a headache or oncoming migraine attack. For this reason, music therapy can be a helpful tool for managing your migraine symptoms.
Find out how music for migraine and headache relief works and explore soothing music options in this guide.
Do sounds trigger migraine?
While sound can be a trigger for a migraine attack for some people, sounds like music also serve as a helpful treatment option when used the right way. A common migraine trigger can be sudden or loud noises. With that in mind, is there a way that music can remedy headache and migraine pain? The answer is yes, by helping in the following areas of the brain:
- Regulation: Music can regulate your moods and emotions, helping you relax and take your mind off things.
- Pain modulation: Music can touch on regions of your brain that work in pain modulation. This process helps dampen pain signals.
- Endorphins: Music can release feel-good hormones like endorphins, which are natural painkillers to an extent.
Can music therapy relieve migraine or headaches?
Music can help your body relax and relieve tense muscles, potentially relieving headache and migraine symptoms. Music therapists use it to gently control your emotional, physical and psychological responses to migraine attacks or triggers. In one small study, about 50% of people with episodic migraines saw a positive change after three months of daily music-listening sessions.
Some ways that anti-migraine music can help are by:
- Reducing duration: Music therapy can help you experience fewer and shorter migraine attacks or headaches.
- Reducing intensity: In one study performed in an emergency-room setting, migraine patients felt less pain within an hour of listening to music, when music therapy was added to conventional medical treatment.
If you want to try using music to relieve migraine symptoms, it’s important to take the following steps for the best results.
See a music therapist
A professional can recommend the right music for treatment. They may advise incorporating progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery along with relaxing music therapy techniques.
Working with a music therapist means that you have a treatment plan that fits your needs. They can help you create a personalized playlist after seeing your responses to different tempos and genres.
Use headphones
Special headphones or earphones are needed for music therapy to be most effective. Normal speakers cannot create the binaural beats needed for treatment. At the same time, everyone is unique. For some, the pressure from headphones can make migraine symptoms worse — keep this in mind when deciding whether headphones are right for you.
Create a comfortable environment
If you feel a migraine attack coming on, it’s time to set up your music therapy session. Choose your music therapy playlist and sit in a quiet, comfortable room with dim lights. You may sit or lie down in a comfortable position, and use earphones or headphones if you so choose. You can add meditative breathing or other techniques to help manage the pain.
Learn How CEFALY Prevents & Relieves Migraine Pain
What are binaural beats for headaches and migraine?
Binaural beats are sounds that have slightly different frequencies. Imagine you have a drum on each side of your head. When one drum hits softly and the other one a bit louder, your brain will notice the difference. In processing two sounds at once, your brain creates an auditory illusion to make sense of them: a new sound called the binaural beat.
The binaural beat in your head can have different effects depending on how close together the pitches of those tones are. Some people say it is relaxing, and others say it helps them sleep better. Some beats can even increase your focus. It all comes down to how your brain interprets different tones playing in your ears.
For some people, listening to these relaxing binaural beats relieves the tension that comes with migraine. It is like doing meditation while getting a gentle brain massage.
What is the best type of music to help migraines?
Instrumental music promotes the most relaxation and can help people with migraine. You can also try music with slower tempos and fewer voices. Choose pieces with 40 to 80 beats per minute for your migraine music playlist. Rhythmic patterns and gentle melodies can distract you from pain and help your body relax.
You can also consider these music genres:
- Classical music: The calm, soothing melodies of classical music help your mind and body relax. These melodies lower stress and tension that fuels migraine triggers.
- White noise: White noise is a mix of background sound frequencies. The gentle whooshing sounds can hide other sounds, helping you focus or relax. This response can ease migraine symptoms.
- Binaural beats: The different frequencies that play in each ear can influence your brain waves to boost relaxation. For some people, this lowers the intensity of headaches or migraine attacks.
- ASMR: Both binaural beats and ASMR have an association with meditation. ASMR can trigger calming sensations in your head and neck through soft tapping, whispering or light scratching sounds. Research shows that it can help make migraine triggers like stress less intense.
- Dubstep and heavy metal: While few people would call these genres “relaxing,” some people say the heavy bass vibrations can help a migraine attack.
Migraine therapy with CEFALY
While many people use music for headache and migraine relief, everyone is different. Many people see results, while others may find it overstimulating. Managing and remedying your pain may involve combining different techniques that suit your body’s needs. If you want a clinically proven and drug-free option for pain relief, try CEFALY.
CEFALY is an FDA-cleared device that provides effective acute migraine treatment at home. With CEFALY, many migraine sufferers experience a decrease in migraine pain intensity and migraine attack frequency. The device adheres to your forehead and stimulates the trigeminal nerve, the primary pathway for migraine pain. It offers a safe, effective and drug-free treatment option for those who experience acute migraine with or without aura.
Try CEFALY risk-free and take control of your migraine journey today.
