Sex Might Cure Migraines as Well as Medicine
According to a German study recently published in Cephalagia (part of the International Headache Society), over half of migraine and cluster headache sufferers who had sex during their headaches reported at least some decrease in pain during and after the act.
"Our data suggest...that sexual activity can lead to partial or complete relief of headache in some migraine and a few cluster headache patients," wrote the authors of the study, published Feb. 19 in Cephalagia.
"Our results show that sexual activity during a migraine attack might relieve or even stop an attack in some cases, and that sexual activity in the presence of headache is not an unusual behavior," they added.
The study, which was comprised of 800 migraine patients and 200 cluster headache sufferers, found that one third of the study's participants had sex during a headache, and of those one third, sixty percent of the migraine sufferers reported less pain. The study also found that some participants – men, mostly – reported using sex to treat migraines on a regular basis (or, as the Daily News puts it, "While headaches have long been used as an excuse for not having sex, the researchers reported that the male subjects in particular used sex as a "therapeutic tool.")
Sex didn't alleviate pain for everyone; one-third of the migraine sufferers and roughly half of the cluster headache havers who had sex reported that they felt worse after.
But good news for migraine sufferers without regular partners to have sex with; a lead researcher in the trial said that any endorphin-inducing sexual activity, masturbation included, will work just as well, as long as you see it through until the end.
"Having an orgasm in any way shape or form will help (them)," he said.
