What if the headache that knocks you out for a day is actually a signal that your hormones and cellular energy are out of sync,

and you can track the pattern before the next attack?

Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.

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insights. Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, and today we're

exploring why women experience migraines three to four times more often than men, how estrogen and

progesterone shape your sensitivity to pain, and what you can do to support

mitochondrial function, so attacks become less frequent and less intense.

I'm Alara Sky. We'll keep this focused on what the research shows, how hormone fluctuations prime

and trigger migraines, why mitochondrial health matters, and practical steps you can take,

like lowering linoleic acid, supporting melatonin, rebuilding key nutrients, improving oral health,

and tracking personal triggers.

Let's start with the gender gap.

You're more likely to face migraines during hormonally active years, and the reason is straightforward.

Estrogen both heightens sensitivity and, when it drops suddenly, triggers electrical instability in your brain.

That's the sequence behind the pain, light, and sound sensitivity, and sometimes dizziness or nausea.

You can think of high estrogen as a priming step that turns up the volume on your pain pathways.

Then the rapid decline before menstruation or after childbirth becomes the spark that sets off the attack.

Natural progesterone provides a counterbalance by calming nerve excitability,

which is one reason patterns

often shift across pregnancy and perimenopause.

...