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 Javaspeak |
Headaches! |
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Posts: 98 (06/26/08 15:49:41) |
Okay, I know this sounds crazy--but does anyone else get intense headaches after they practice? Seems to happen to me pretty consistently. I've tried
buckets of water--Gatorade--nothing seems to make them go away after I get them (I've experimented with all kinds of OTC stuff--Tylenol, Ibuprofen, etc..)
Is it just me or does anyone else suffer from this? |
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barchi |
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Posts: 20 (06/26/08 16:50:41) |
What practice do you have? 1st, 2nd, 3rd series? How long have you been practicing? How long is your practice? Have you asked your teacher?
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Javaspeak |
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Posts: 99 (06/27/08 00:08:45) |
I practice five days a week--two at the shala and the rest at home--(two kids, full-time job, dogs. etc.) I've been practicing for eight years--I usually
practice 45 minutes to an hour each day--still on 1st series. I experiment with full vinyasa and jumpbacks during the sequence and when I'm fatigued, I
cut the number of jump backs to every other side.
I haven't talked with my teacher yet about the headaches. Sometimes, I only do 3 Sun Salutations A and B each instead of 5---that seems to help with overall strength in the practice but doesn't loosen the hamstrings the ways I need it to. I'm still also feeling fatigue within the muscles. I should say that I also teach yoga--everyday--very vigorously for 90 minutes. The teaching seems to "get in the way" for lack of a better term--with my practice in terms of what I have left to give to myself. I know that when I teach, I don't have to be doing all the asanas (obviously) but just being there for the students, biking to the various gigs, and teaching dynamically, is hard to do alongside a steady personal pratice. |
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YogaVane |
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Posts: 878 (06/27/08 00:21:06) Lady Governess |
Hmm...a practice, a job, two kids, teaching yoga...maybe THAT is why your head hurts?
(I'm serious) |
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Lavazza64 |
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Posts: 154 (06/27/08 00:35:07) |
I sometime get a sinus headache from chanting, but never from asana practice. |
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Javaspeak |
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Posts: 100 (06/27/08 07:50:58) |
I juggle the "householder" duties all the time--the headache really does seem mostly physical and not merely tension.
It starts an hour after practice and I think may relate to hydration. The headache is also in the back of my neck and near the spinal column---maybe it's the way I do headstand... |
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barchi |
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Posts: 21 (06/27/08 08:36:56) |
You said your practice last one hour. So are your headaches coming after your practice, after your headstand, during savasana? does it vary?
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Javaspeak |
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Posts: 101 (06/27/08 08:39:16) |
The headaches come after practice--precisely an hour after practice and my practice itself lasts an hour.
I'm not drinking liquid beforehand--I have to take the subway in and the restrooms in NYC are few and far between. Should there be a lot of hydration before practice? I do drink some coffee... |
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yogajohnny |
hydration (complex subject) | ||
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Posts: 43 (06/27/08 09:43:40) |
I don't believe that water alone will hydrate us. I think it just dilutes us.
drinking mineral water, with high mineral content, kombucha, beet kvass (another subject), some type of natural mineral supplement like bentonite mixed in water, Celtic sea salt or Pink Himalayan salt mixed in with water as it has calcium and other minerals. I hardly ever drink "just water" and NEVER tap water. You'll be lucky if all you get is a headache from drinking tap water. - Cheers |
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Lavazza64 |
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Posts: 155 (06/27/08 12:51:18) |
yogajohnny wrote: Sounds like a really bad idea to me. I prefer to avoid wasting energy and money where I can, and drinking tap water is a good way to save limited resources and my own money. Tap water tastes like crap in (parts of) some big cities, but test have shown tap water to be of better quality than bottled mineral water in many places with good water resources and a good water distribution system. |
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country girl |
headaches | ||
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Posts: 58 (06/27/08 14:46:14) |
In many cases headaches are triggered by tension or strain in the neck and base of the skull, or by tension in the muscles of the jaw even where the underlying
muscular tension does not seem apparent. Headstand and setu bandasana would be the first two poses I would examine, but possible also backbend and chakrasana
would be suspects as well. Since you are a teacher you probably know more than I do about what to look for or how to modify, but others here will have good
suggestions too. I find that I tend to look upward too harshly in upward dog, probably trying to compensate for a lot of sagging elsewhere, and after while
it strains my neck, although in my case it doesn't usually translate to a headache. I have a friend who complained that the upward gaze to thumb in
trikonanasa bothered her neck, and she temporarily modified that pose with good results.
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Javaspeak |
Dristi and cranking the neck/City tapwater--pure? | ||
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Posts: 102 (06/27/08 15:11:19) |
Country girl: Thank you. I do seem to "crank" the head and neck a lot in Upward Dog--particularly in the dristi and also in Downward Dog when I try
to gaze at the navel. I think you're right--the tension emanates in the jaw and also in the neck. This, I think, is the cause of the headaches so that
after an hour's practice--it makes sense that all that accumulated strain would definitely manifest itself in a headache--thanks for that insight.
As to hydration--I'm also on a budget and drink NYC tap water all the time. Like most New Yorkers, we're told it's good stuff but who's to say? The other suggestions for drinking--mineral water and other drinks, seem like good ones to me. Don't know what the tap water is like in other urban areas... |
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yogamummy |
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Posts: 63 (06/27/08 22:54:05) |
I get intense headaches too after practice, have been every day for about 2 years. I'm also juggling daily practice with kids and demanding career, and do
a bit of teaching. How long have you been getting them? Do they eventually go away and the day goes on?
I haven't found anything that works yet... Let me know if you find something that works for you, I'm getting a bit desperate. |
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leapintolotus |
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Posts: 17 (06/28/08 03:31:41) |
As a side note, I drink tap water but I use a filter jug, which makes it taste slightly better!
I tend to find that my dehydration headaches materialise near the front of the head and around my eyes, rather than towards the back. Therefore if you're feeling it more towards the back of the head and the neck, the suggestion about the neck and the jaw being strained sounds like a sensible one. People tend to hold a lot of stress in their neck and jaw, so it is easy for tension to build up and cause trouble. That said, if you're sweating a lot in practice/teaching or getting quite hot, the body will need some water to rehydrate and cool the body, so make sure you get enough to avoid any headaches caused this way. The point someone made about the salts is quite important - but so long as you don't just drink and drink and drink, it shouldn't cause a problem. A man was reported in one of the UK national papers as having drunk about 5 litres of water within something like 1 hour! Naturally, his body could not cope and he ended up being taken to hospital. Everything in moderation!
Last Edited By: leapintolotus
06/28/08 03:36:04.
Edited 2 times.
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yogamummy |
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Posts: 64 (06/28/08 03:50:33) |
That analysis of different headache types sounds about right. But what about a stabbing pain in one temple (not always the same side), made worse while
coughing or bending forwards, which usually goes away after an hour or two??
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Javaspeak |
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Posts: 103 (06/29/08 16:19:14) |
I'm stumped about the headache you describe as "stabbing pain" in one temple. Are your eyes okay? Recently, I had to have glasses for both
reading and near-sighted vision--which changed a lot of things for me.
But in terms of the pain after practice--I'm still exhausted and debilitated--after practice and headaches and muscle soreness at night (that one is pretty easy to cope with and not intense) it's still hard to take my kids to the park, play, etc.. I don't have any remedy for that--I have found though that if I shorten the practice to about forty-five minutes to a half hour (and still do a very dedicated practice) there seems to be less of the intense headaches and a lot more endurance for the other responsibilities of life. I hate to "cheat" on practice in that I could really spend more time, but I do practice now six days a week for at least a half hour (usually a good forty-five minutes) and I feel very committed and dedicated to the practice and very grateful without a lot of the strain. Maybe the body grows used to it over time, but really over time, many years...? |
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yogamummy |
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Posts: 65 (06/29/08 19:37:12) |
I've had just about every test in the book, including brain, neck, teeth, eyes, jaw... apparently I'm normal (he he he). But you're right, I also
have to juggle the energy I put into asana practice with the type of scientist I want to be during the day and the type of parenting I want to provide in the
evening. I guess this is a different type of practice altogether! It sounds like you have found the right length of practice for your particular juggling
act...
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yogajohnny |
"good quality" | ||
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Posts: 44 (06/30/08 03:58:14) |
Most tap water has many toxins in it that can be avoided by drinking mineral water, only a couple of brands I will drink and only in glass bottles.
The best idea if you can afford it is too buy a water filter and then add the minerals back to it. But this doesn't work unless you own your home. The "britta" filters are better than nothing I guess. I would never endorse buying a bunch of plastic bottles of water, you are correct, that is very wasteful. "test have shown tap water to be of better quality". Who is doing the testing? You trust them? I'm not sure why people blindly trust these types of things. "Drink tap water at your own risk". You want to drink Clorine and flouride? These are both lethal in my opinion, and only the beginning of whats in most city water. "Saving Health vs. Saving Money", I choose my health. |
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Lavazza64 |
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Posts: 156 (06/30/08 04:49:18) |
"Who is doing the testing? You trust them? I'm not sure why people blindly trust these types of things."
A lot of newspapaer has hired independant institutes to do tests for articles. FDA:s in different countries test tap water and mineral water quality consistently. Here is an article, among many. "The report gives the example of one company in Helsinki, Finland, that in 2004 shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water to Saudi Arabia-2,700 miles (4,300 kilometers) away." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0224_060224_bottled_water.html Who is supporting your claims about the benefits of drinking bottled mineral water? |
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yogajohnny |
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Posts: 45 (06/30/08 09:10:02) |
The article is talking about water in plastic bottles from questionable sources, I SAID I only drink bottled water in GLASS bottles and only a couple of
brands. The other healthy alternative is reverse osmosis filtered water with minerals added back in. If you don't add the minerals back you are not
hydrating properly.
TAP WATER (some better, some worse) is poison! http://www.aquamd.com/water_health/arsenic10-6.cfm http://www.greensense.com/Features/Action/cancer_on_tap.htm http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-563123/Poison-kitchen--How-tap-water-damage-brain-blind-kill-you.html http://elliotlakenews.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/fluoridated-drinking-water-is-poison/ http://lefthandedleftist.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-do-rat-poison-and-my-tap-water.html |
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Lavazza64 |
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Posts: 157 (06/30/08 11:01:05) |
I found this comment to one of your articles.
"Are you being serious with this specific post or are you being humorous and joking around? I highly suspect you are joking, just like there is a website warning about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide (http://www.dhmo.org/). Oh, if you are serious, then I suggest you check out the same poison in your tubes of toothpaste and what countries those are imported from too? Ha! Ha! You have made me roll on the floor laughing! You are funny man!" Anyway, consuming bottled (no return glass or plastic) mineral water is a sure way to overconsume limited natural resources and to pollute the world, thus diminishing the worldwide quality of both tap water and mineral water. |
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