Is cold plunge a remedy for migraine?
Summary
Cold plunge therapy has a complex relationship with headache. Several readers report that a regular ice bath practice prevents migraine headaches. However, other readers report that if they ice bath during a headache, the cold can make the headache worse.
Several mechanisms suggest that the Morozko ice bath can can be prophylactic for headache pain, including mitochondrial rejuvenation, reduced inflammation, improved circulation, and electrical grounding.
Nonetheless, ice bath is not recommended during an acute headache episode, because the vasoconstriction of whole-body cold water immersion can increase blood pressure in the brain.
During acute episodes of migraine or other headaches, use the MyGreen Lamp technology. Clinical trials and patient experiences demonstrate the efficacy of narrowband LED green light for relief of migraine pain and soothing of anxiety.
DISCLAIMER: This article features a new Morozko Market partner -- i.e., MyGreen Lamp, LLC. The Morozko Market is a catalog of health and wellness technologies that have been tested by Professor Seager and supported by scientific investigation and reader experiences. Morozko does not collect a commission or a referral fee from any of the links or recommendations listed in the Market.
What can Morozko do for Migraine?
Migraine headaches are the leading cause of disability in people under 50 years old (Messina et al. 2023). Women suffer at a rate about three times that of men, suggesting that sex hormone levels are somehow involved in susceptibility to migraine. Symptoms typically emerge during puberty, disappear in women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, worsen in menopause and may resolve altogether after menopause (Ferrari et al. 2022).
In her recent book Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means describes an association between metabolic dysfunction and frequency of migraine headaches (Means & Means 2024). In Ice Baths for Mitochondrial Therapy I described the mechanisms by which cold plunge therapy promotes rejuvenation of mitochondria and resolution of metabolic dysfunction. You might think that if Dr. Means is correct, then ice baths could be an effective prophylactic migraine for reducing migraine frequency and severity.
However, the experiences of some of my readers are inconsistent with that hypothesis.
I get two types of reports from people who practice cold plunge therapy and suffer from frequent headaches, including migraines. The first experience ice baths as a miracle treatment for migraine pain. They tell me that since starting cold plunge therapy, they no have migraine attacks. However, the second type of report come from readers who say that if they ice bath while they have a headache, the ice bath will often make the headache worse.
What's going on?
The mysterious origins of migraine headaches
The origins of migraine are mysterious, even to the world's foremost experts. Biohacker Gary Brecka claims that migraines result from an electrolyte deficiency that can be remedied by increasing sodium intake (Brecka 2023). On the other hand, in an unpublished interview with brain expert Joe Dituri, PhD, I learned that he treats migraines with hyperbaric oxygen therapy to correct oxygen deficiency in the blood that flows to the brain.
While the theories of migraine espoused by Brecka and Dituri seem to contradict Dr. Means, all three of them might be right.
No one know what triggers migraine in humans. To better study migraine, scientists typically use animal models. The methods employed for inducing migraine in those animals might be revealing. For example, scientists using rodents to study migraine must first create inflammation in the brain using either electrical or chemical stimulation (Spekker et al. 2024). Because hyperbaric oxygen therapy will relieve inflammation and alleviate pain (Schiavo et al. 2021), Dituri makes a good point. And because sodium deficiency can result in abnormal ion transport leading to inflammation (Eisenhut 2006), Brecka's claims may have a mechanistic basis. Moreover, we know that metabolic dysfunction leads to mental health and brain-related disorders (Palmer 2022) so to the extent that mitochondrial therapy improves brain function, Dr. Means could be right, too.
None of the three theories of migraine origin excludes the others. Moreover, migraine can also originate from other causes, such as traumatic brain injury. That is, there are multiple, complex mechanisms in migraine that all likely cause inflammation in regions of the brain that create the characteristic symptoms of migraine including visual aura, intense neurological pain, photophobia, and brain fog.
Cold plunge therapy benefits for migraine
Could cold be an acute intervention for migraine?
The anti-inflammatory action of cold plunge therapy may provide some benefit to migraineurs by relieving chronic inflammatory conditions that increase susceptibility to migraine. For example, in Cold for Chronic Pain I described three case studies in inflammatory illness that were resolved by a regular practice of cold plunge therapy. Nevertheless, I have yet to hear from anyone brave (crazy?) enough to try their Morozko ice bath while in the throes of a migraine attack. Although the grounding, neurotransmitter production, and brain benefits of the ice bath might prove to remedy the symptoms of migraine, for the people I know who suffer, the idea of adding an ice bath onto their already unmanageable symptoms seems unbearable.
Benefits of Morozko Ice Bath for Migraine
It is more likely that the positive reports I receive about ice baths preventing migraine are due to metabolic and grounding benefits. For example, an ice bath is the fastest way to stimulate endogenous ketone production, and the brain will always metabolize ketones over glucose, whenever ketones are present in the bloodstream.
Ketones for Brain Health
The potential benefits of ketones for brain health are profound, and migraines are likely no exception. For example, a research team at the Neurology, Migraine and Neurological Rehabilitation Center in Provo, Utah recently published three case studies of men who suffered about ten migraine headaches a month. They noticed that all three men experienced low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) after an oral glucose tolerance test, indicating some metabolic abnormality.
When the three patients conformed to a ketogenic diet (<15g carbohydrates/day) "each patient experienced a substantial reduction in migraine frequency, with occurrences of migraine headaches dropping to fewer than four per month in all patients" (Amendolara et al. 2024). No adverse effects were reported in any of the three cases, and six-month follow-ups showed that the patients had all maintained their improvements.
The implication is that metabolic interventions can modify migraine. Because cold plunge therapy is probably of the most powerful metabolic therapies available anywhere, it stands to reason that readers who notice big improvements in their migraine frequency can attribute these outcomes to their ice bath practice.
Grounding for the Brain
The most economical way to start a cold therapy practice may be with cold showers. Unfortunately, as I wrote in Cold Showers vs Ice Baths the shower does not provide the same grounding (earthing) benefits. Neither do the cheap plastic, inflatable, or acrylic tubs that are now available online for a fraction of the cost of Morozko. (See How Grounded Is Your Ice Bath?).
The distinction is important, because grounding has multi-faceted benefits that benefit health, speed healing, and improve mood. For example, in Grounding Therapy I wrote about the circulatory benefits of grounding that come from modification of the Zeta potential that controls coagulation of red blood cells. Reduced blood viscosity and better circulation results from grounding (Chevalier et al. 2013).
Jessica Genetics, founder of Morozko Market Partner Fountainhead Hair, has observed the effects of grounding on her own red blood cells using the photographic microscope in her lab. After 30 minutes of walking barefoot in the grass, she noticed that her red blood cells were less clumped together and able to move more freely. As a result, her heart does not have to work as hard to pump, and circulation throughout her body -- including her brain -- is better.
According to Brian Hoyer of Shielded Healing, the measured grounding effectiveness of plunging in a Morozko ice bath is about thirty times greater than walking barefoot in the grass. That means what took Jessica thirty minutes to do on the lawn outside her lab would require only one minute in the ice bath.
The grounding benefits are important to management of migraine, because the increased blood circulation to the brain may increase perfusion and oxygenation of the brain cells in same way that Dituri recommends. That is, more blood flow means more oxygen, even without the hyperbaric chamber. Moreover, grounding has been shown to relieve pain, speed wound healing, reduce inflammation, boost the immune system, and improve sleep quality (Oschmann et al. 2015, Sinatra et al. 2023). Every single one of these systemic health benefits is likely to ameliorate migraine pain.
Vasoconstriction Increases Pressure on the Brain
Despite the metabolic and grounding benefits of Morozko for migraine, several readers have reported to me that an ice bath can sometimes give them a headache -- or make an existing headache worse. That's not because they experience brain freeze, like when you were a kid and drank your slushy drink too fast. It's because whole body cold water immersion increases blood pressure in the brain.
In Are You Getting Enough Vasoconstriction? I wrote about how one of the body's thermoregulatory defense mechanisms is to constrict the blood vessels that supply the limbs to reduce blood flow to the extremities that are most exposed to the cold. As a consequence, blood volume in the torso and any other part of the body that is not exposed to cold will increase -- including the head. That blood volume increase corresponds to a blood pressure increase. This explains why Hypertension (high blood pressure) Is the Most Important Contraindication to Cold Plunge.
The post-ice-bath headache that comes from vasoconstriction is not a migraine. However, when brain tissues are already inflamed, the last thing they need is higher blood pressure. For this reason, anyone who attempts an ice bath while experiencing a migraine headache might not be pleased with the results. A better approach to use cold plunge therapy as a prophylactic to prevent migraine headaches before they occur.
Green Light Phototherapy for Migraine
Although ice baths are not recommended while in the throes of an acute migraine attack, there is another therapy that can recommend: MyGreen Lamp.
One of the most remarkable discoveries of my biohacking journey has been narrowband green LED phototherapy for relief of migraine pain -- and it happened accidentally.
While I was researching ultraviolet light and vitamin D for the chapter in my Uncommon Cold book on autoimmune disorders, I got a notification about a paper from Harvard Professor Rami Burstein claiming that exposing the eyes to narrowband green light, and only green light without any other wavelengths, could reduce migraine pain and alleviate photophobia during an attack (Noseda et al. 2017).
Because AJ Kay suffers regular migraines, I was curious to find out if green light might help her. I bought a couple of the inexpensive green lamps available online and asked her to try them in the darkness of the bathroom when she got a headache. She reported that when she held her eyes a certain way, and stared into the soft green light just right, she felt a reduction in pain.
That sounded encouraging enough for me to call Scott Chaveri, Founder of Mito Red Light, to ask if he could make me one of his a portable red light devices, but with green LED's in it instead of red. He could.
When the prototype came from Scott's manufacturer he called me to tell me it "was garbage."
"It's too bright," he said. "I told them I wanted it softer, but my red light manufacturer knows that we make the most powerful lights, so I think they put too much power into this one."
AJ and I drove out to Scott's office, anyway, to try it for ourselves.
When I turned it on, I though Scott was right. If I didn't have a headache already, I was convinced that staring at that green light would give me one.
But AJ said, "Let me see that."
She took the lantern and put it right up against her face with her eyes closed.
She said "This feels really good."
It turned out that the three of us had accidentally invented the world's most powerful green phototherapy device for headache relief -- so powerful that it works through closed eyes so that the patient doesn't have to sit in a dark room to block out all other wavelengths of light.
Since then, I've supplied neuropsychologists and medical professionals with MyGreen Lanterns for them to treat their migraine patients. They tell me they are getting spectacular results in pain relief.
That means that to prevent headaches, the Morozko ice bath is an excellent choice. However, when experiencing a headache you're better off using the MyGreen.
References
Amendolara A, Magoffin WD, Naik AU, Sant D, Kriak J, Green B, Bills K. Chronic Migraine May Be Associated With Postprandial Hypoglycemia in Adult Men: A Case Series. Cureus. 2024 Feb;16(2).
Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM. Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity—a major factor in cardiovascular disease. The journal of alternative and complementary medicine. 2013 Feb 1;19(2):102-10.
Eisenhut M. Changes in ion transport in inflammatory disease. Journal of inflammation. 2006 Dec;3:1-5.
Ferrari MD, Goadsby PJ, Rami B, Kurth T, Cenk A, Charles A, Messoud A, van den Maagdenberg Arn MJ, Dodick DW. Migraine (Primer). Nature Reviews: Disease Primers. 2022;8(1).
Means Casey, Means Calley. Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health. 2024.
Messina R, Rocca MA, Goadsby PJ, Filippi M. Insights into migraine attacks from neuroimaging. The Lancet Neurology. 2023.
Oschman JL, Chevalier G, Brown R. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Journal of inflammation research. 2015 Mar 24:83-96.
Noseda R, Reuven-Nir R, Bernstein C, Borsook D, Buettner C, Burstein R. Green light alleviates migraine photophobia (S47. 005). Neurology. 2017 Apr 18;88(16_supplement):S47-005.
Palmer CM. Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More. BenBella Books. 2022.
Schiavo S, DeBacker J, Djaiani C, Bhatia A, Englesakis M, Katznelson R. Mechanistic rationale and clinical efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in chronic neuropathic pain: an evidence‐based narrative review. Pain Research and Management. 2021;2021(1):8817504.
Sinatra ST, Sinatra DS, Sinatra SW, Chevalier G. Grounding–The universal anti-inflammatory remedy. biomedical journal. 2023 Feb 1;46(1):11-6.
Spekker E, Fejes-Szabó A, Nagy-Grócz G. Models of Trigeminal Activation: Is There an Animal Model of Migraine?. Brain Sciences. 2024 Mar 27;14(4):317.