Migraine: Is it an energy problem?

Ritesh Bawri

01 Feb 2026 — 2 min read

Photo by Resume Genius / Unsplash

You’re not weak. You are poor. Not financially. Metabolically.

That migraine that floors you when someone turns on a bright light? That’s not oversensitivity.

That’s your brain running out of the ATP required to filter what should be background noise.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Your brain is an information processing machine that runs on cellular currency. Every thought, every filtered sensation, every moment of focus costs energy.

That energy is created in your body as something known as adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.

Scientists found something remarkable in 2001. People living with migraine showed depleted brain energy reserves even between attacks.

Their neural batteries were chronically low. When a flickering light hit their retinas, they simply couldn’t afford the metabolic cost of gating it out.

The light wasn’t too bright. The brain was energy deprived.

This reframes everything we think about sensory disorders. The question we have been asking is what is attacking the brain.

But the question we should ask is what is starving the brain.

Every time you feel overwhelmed by inputs that others handle easily, the open office noise, the crowded restaurant, the endless notifications, consider that this might not be a character flaw.

It might be what scientists call a budget problem. Your body is running out of available resources.

So what can you do?

I had written about creatine a few days ago. One of the wonderful side effects of creatine is increasing the production of ATP. Some of this ATP will be used by your brain. You may experience lower frequency of migraines attacks.

Obviously lowering the energy needs of the brain helps. There is a part of your brain called the Default Mode Network (DMN).The role is self-relection and takes up 20% of the energy needs of the brain.

Meditation slows down this activity, lowering your energy need.

The combination of increasing ATP production and lowering energy need might just be the cure you were seeking.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain

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