Some memories don’t fade, they echo. A word, a glance, a moment that keeps the body on alert long after it’s passed. Your brain remembers the pain, and your chemistry follows.

In this episode of Migraine Heroes Podcast, host Diane Ducarme explores how holding on to anger, guilt, or resentment, keeps your nervous system locked in defense mode. Neuroscience shows that unforgiveness isn’t just emotional; it’s chemical. And Eastern philosophy has been teaching this for thousands of years: peace is not a mood, it’s a biological state.

You’ll discover:

💡 How resentment and rumination keep your stress chemistry “on,” flooding the brain with cortisol and adrenaline

💡 The key brain regions — like the amygdala and prefrontal cortex — that shift when you practice forgiveness

💡 How forgiveness lowers inflammatory markers, improves heart rate variability, and helps regulate chronic pain and migraine sensitivity

💡 What Eastern wisdom traditions reveal about releasing emotional stagnation — and why true forgiveness restores inner flow

You’ll also learn simple, science-backed ways to help your brain and body let go — not by forcing it, but by re-training your chemistry toward calm.

If you’ve ever felt trapped by your own thoughts, or noticed how emotional stress triggers physical pain, this episode is for you.

Tune in to learn how forgiving others — and yourself — can become one of the most powerful medicines for your brain.

🎧 New episodes every Monday and Wednesday

🔗 Discover our work on migraineheroes.com

References:

1. Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Theory and Application — Routledge (2016): Worthington E.L. and Hook J.N. presented a comprehensive framework showing how forgiveness interventions strengthen emotional regulation, empathy, and relational repair, with implications for trauma and chronic pain recovery. Explore the book here.
2. Forgiveness, Stress & Health (2016): Toussaint et al. show that practicing forgiveness reduces stress reactivity over just five weeks, supporting its role in lowering inflammation and improving emotional well-being. Read more here.
3. Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation — Psychosomatic Medicine (2003): Davidson R.J. and Kabat-Zinn J. demonstrated that eight weeks of mindfulness meditation increased left-frontal activation (linked to positive emotion) and enhanced immune response, highlighting forgiveness’s neurological parallels. Read the study here.
4. Forgiveness, Physiological Reactivity and Health: The Role of Anger — Radboud University Nijmegen (2008): Witvliet, C. shows how unresolved anger heightens physiological stress responses—elevating heart rate, cortisol and autonomic arousal—while forgiveness promotes healthier emotional regulation and improved physical wellbeing. Read the full text

You skip breakfast, push through lunch, and tell yourself you’ll eat later, but instead, your head starts pounding. What if fasting isn’t helping your focus, but quietly stressing your brain into a migraine attack?

In this episode of Migraine Heroes Podcast, host Diane Ducarme explores the paradox of fasting — why it can be both a healing tool and a hidden stressor for migraine-prone brains. With insights from neuroscience and Eastern medicine, you’ll learn how to find your balance between cleansing and collapse.

You’ll discover:

🍽️ Why fasting can support or sabotage brain health depending on your stress levels, hormones, and energy reserves

🧠 How blood sugar, cortisol, and neurotransmitters interact when you go too long without eating

🌿 What Traditional Chinese Medicine reveals about the dangers of “empty fire” and energy depletion

✨ How to fast in a way that calms, not shocks, your nervous system

This episode helps you reclaim a mindful relationship with food — one that nourishes your brain instead of draining it. Because sometimes, the bravest thing your body asks for isn’t restraint… it’s rhythm.

🎧 New episodes every Monday and Wednesday

🔗 Discover our work on migraineheroes.com

References:

1. Breakfast Skipping and Declines in Cognitive Score Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A 2023 longitudinal study of the HEIJO-KYO Cohort found that older adults who skipped breakfast one or more times per week had more than double the risk of cognitive decline (IRR ≈ 2.1) compared to those who ate breakfast daily. Read the full study here.
2. Associations Between Breakfast Skipping and Outcomes in Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Cognitive Performance, and Frailty: A Mendelian Randomization Study: A 2024 MR analysis published in BMC Psychiatry found causal links between breakfast skipping and increased risk of ADHD, major depression, poorer cognitive performance (β ≈ -0.16), and higher frailty scores. Read more here.
3. Fasting as a Therapy in Neurological Disease: This review (PMC) explores how fasting or caloric restriction may influence neurological disorders, including migraine, via metabolic and neuroprotective pathways. Read the full review here.
4. The Impact of Continuous Calorie Restriction and Fasting on Cognition in Adults Without Eating Disorders: A review published in Nutrition Reviews examines how sustained calorie restriction or...

You keep pushing through one more email, one more scroll — until the screen blurs, colors pulse, and the edges of your vision begin to shimmer. It’s not just fatigue. In a world bathed in blue light, your brain is overstimulated, your nervous system on edge, and your eyes are paying the price.

In this episode of The Migraine Heroes Podcast, host Diane Ducarme unpacks how modern light exposure hijacks your body’s natural rhythms. Drawing from both Western neuroscience and Eastern medicine, she reveals how screens, stress, and overstimulation keep your brain in “on” mode — and what you can do to calm the circuitry.

You’ll discover:

💡 How blue-wavelength light activates the same neural pathways that control alertness, pain, and stress

💡 Why constant screen time disrupts melatonin, sleep, and recovery — making your brain more sensitive to triggers

💡 Simple, restorative practices to help your nervous system down-shift from reactive to regulated

You’ll also learn how Traditional Chinese Medicine sees the eyes as the “windows of the Liver,” meaning that overstimulation drains your body’s Qi and depletes the calm you need to heal.

If your migraines, insomnia, or tension rise with every notification — this episode will help you reclaim the calm beneath the glare.

🎧 New episodes every Monday and Wednesday

🔗 Discover our work on migraineheroes.com

References:

• Exposure to Blue Wavelength Light Increases Subsequent Functional Activation of the Prefrontal Cortex: A 2016 study in Sleep (Alkozei et al.) found that short-term exposure to blue light boosts prefrontal cortex activity during working-memory tasks, showing how blue light can heighten cognitive alertness—sometimes at the expense of relaxation and sleep. Read the full study here.
• Artificial Blue Light Safety and Digital Devices, Environmental Research Communications (2022):This review evaluates how blue light from screens affects the eyes, circadian rhythms, and visual comfort, showing that prolonged exposure can disrupt sleep quality, strain the visual system, and alter alertness patterns. Read more here.
• Blue Light Exposure Increases Functional Connectivity Between Brain Networks: A 2022 Frontiers in Neuroscience paper revealed that blue light enhances connectivity across attention and working-memory networks, helping performance short-term but potentially overstimulating the visual and sensory systems relevant to migraine. Read more here.
• Blue Light Has a Dark Side – Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Health explained how blue light suppresses melatonin and delays sleep onset, linking nighttime screen exposure to fatigue, eye strain, and circadian misalignment. Read the full article here.
• Screen Time and the Brain – Harvard Medical School: This overview from Harvard Medical School describes how constant digital stimulation reshapes neural reward circuits and attention systems—creating mental fatigue and stress linked to chronic headaches and migraine triggers. Read more here.

Disclaimer: