Breathing and relaxation added to migraine care reduced headache days in a trial
Adults with chronic migraine had greater improvements in headache frequency when guided breathing and relaxation accompanied standard medication, compared with standard care alone.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Adding guided breathing and relaxation to standard migraine treatment produced a larger reduction in monthly headache frequency than standard care alone. Both groups improved. Pain intensity and disability scores also favored the added program. The findings describe an adjunct to medication over the study period and do not establish whether benefits persist afterward.
The abstract does not provide confidence intervals or follow-up beyond the intervention. It reports no adverse events, but does not describe blinding or the methods used to assess adherence.
What researchers found
Monthly headache frequency: reported mean reduction
After 12 weeks, breathing and relaxation plus standard medication versus standard care alone; p < 0.001.
What the trial tested
The trial tested breathing and relaxation alongside usual drug treatment. Monthly headache frequency was the primary outcome; pain intensity, migraine-related disability, quality of life, and autonomic measures were secondary outcomes.
Symptoms and physiological measures
Changes in heart-rate variability and other autonomic measures were also reported. These physiological findings do not establish why headache outcomes improved; the clinical headache measurements provide the direct evidence about symptoms.
The original publication
Yoga-based breathing and relaxation as adjunctive therapy for chronic migraine: A randomized controlled trial on clinical outcomes and autonomic regulation.
Sujan MU, Inbaraj G, Raghavendra RM et al.
Complement Ther Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41176182
- Record checked
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