I had a blast talking with Erin Knight last month, migraine coach and small business consultant, about the trials and tribulations of working from home. We came up with a bunch of tips for keeping migraines at bay and staying sane during the stress of quarantine and a health crisis.

You can get in touch with Erin Knight through her website for migraine coaching and functional medicine. And if you’re a small business owner looking for a consultant, you’re in luck because this is also one of Erin’s skills!

Watch the video here and read the highlights below.

Establish a self-care routine to start the day. Before screen time comes Me time!

Self-massage tools are magic. The best option? Balls! Golf balls, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, melt balls, you name it. Other options are the Back Buddy and foam rollers.

Adjust the blue light filters on your screens.
This is a big one for eye health, and I highly encourage you to do the following two FREE and easy steps to lower eye strain. Migraineurs are more sensitive to bright screens and LED lights in general, but whether or not you suffer headaches this will help you. Blue light affects our melatonin production that is supposed to help us stay asleep and has antioxidant functions as well.

Phones: Settings → Accessibility → Display in text size → color filters → red tint → more intense
Computers: Go to Iristech.co to download a free Bluelight filter.

The Bathtub Theory
Erin’s blog post about it does it justice, but essentially it’s the idea that we can take things out of the stress bucket or tub, and have more resilience against a major stress response.

Examples include:
Bringing the outdoors in and having a sensory experience
Essential oils and house plants
Feet in grass, hands in soil, Gardening if you have the space
Long walks and fresh air
Gratitude for Spring and the Earth Healing right now

Hydrotherapy
Use cold on acute inflammation and heat to draw blood away from inflammation. For example, during a migraine you might try a cold washcloth or ice pack over your forehead or the back of your head and have a hot pad on your chest. Or put just your feet in a hot back to draw the blood away from your head.

An Attitude of Gratitude
Having a deeper sensory experience of gratitude helps reinforce and re-wire our brain with good neuro chemicals. The Heartmath Institute does research on this and more.

Thank you to all the health care workers working their asses off. Thank you to all the essential workers who are on the front lines and helping keep our food chains and other industries afloat. Thank you for however you are dealing with this time. I believe we are more connected through this, and I believe in our resilience.