How Hydration Supports Brain Retraining & Chronic Pain Recovery
Aug 11, 2025
What if I told you that staying hydrated isn’t just good for your health — it’s also an act of brain retraining for someone living in chronic pain?
Let’s first get the elephant out of the room. For most people who experience migraine (notice I didn’t say have migraine — we don’t own it, we’re not keeping it, it’s a visitor, not part of us — and that distinction matters), you’ve likely had someone say:
“Have you tried drinking more water?”
Although typically well meaning, it can be maddening and feel dismissive of the many complex reasons we get stuck in the pain cycle. Suggesting something as simple as drinking more water feels wildly out of sync with the reality of such debilitating pain.
And yet... I’m here to argue that hydration can help.
Just maybe not in the way you think.
Hydrating is on all of our “should do” list. But for those of us dealing with migraine or other chronic pain and symptoms, it plays a far more significant role than we realize.
Today, I want to offer a very different perspective — one rooted in the science of the mindbody connection.
Keeping on theme, I suggest you grab something to sip as you read along. I promise, it will go down differently by the end of this post. Go.... I'm serious... if nothing else, do it as an act of self-care.
💧 Hydration as a Foundation for Healing
This isn’t about preventing migraines — or any symptom — just by chugging enough water. It’s about equipping your physiology — your body and brain — with what it needs to feel safe and be in the best position possible to heal.
In the biopsychosocial model (the scientific framework that underpins mindbody medicine), we need to look at the bio — the biological factors and physiology of the body - with fresh eyes. In the chronic pain recovery community, we tend to skip over this part. Perhaps because it's the very part of the biomedical approach (conventional Western medical system most of us have been raised in) that pinned an "incurable disease" on us or made us feel like we weren't being taken seriously when tests and results came back "normal". But the biology and physiology are more than just about genetics or a search for structural damage — they include the everyday processes that keep us alive and functioning, like hydration, nutrition, oxygenation, movement, energy balance, hormones, sleep and rest - all of which play a critical role in how safe and supported the brain and body feel.
When these basic needs are not met or not functioning optimally, the brain can perceive a threat to survival — and sounds the internal alarm.
Even mild dehydration can trigger a low-level survival response, affecting how your mind and body function. The brain says:
“We don’t have what we need. Shut down non-essential systems.”
This is how brain fog, poor focus, cognitive fatigue, and digestive issues — like constipation, bloating, slowed motility, or loss of appetite — often begin. These are not random malfunctions; they’re protective responses. When the brain perceives internal threat or energy shortage, it shifts resources away from digestion and higher cognitive function to prioritize survival. The body goes into conservation mode, putting less energy toward breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, or eliminating waste.
Hydration then becomes important as a foundation to healing. By staying hydrated, we give the brain one less thing to worry about and this brings an aspect of safety into the body.
✨ Real Life Observation
When I experienced burnout, my cognitive and fatigue symptoms were intense — and in hindsight, chronic dehydration was a major contributor. For over two decades, I was either in a plane traveling to or from events, rushing through hotel and convention spaces, stuck in back-to-back meetings, or in bed with a migraine. I often skipped water because it was one more thing to carry, and I was actively trying to avoid frequent bathroom breaks. Eventually, I developed kidney stones, and while I made efforts to hydrate, it was inconsistent at best.
Looking back, I was stressing my physiology — especially my brain — by not giving it what it needed. The migraines had many contributing factors, but chronic dehydration almost certainly amplified my symptoms of brain fog, drained my energy, increased my head pain, and kept my nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight survival state.
🧠 Hydration & the Brain’s Perception of Safety
Even slight dehydration is registered by the brain as a stressor — a subtle signal that something is off.
If you're already dealing with chronic pain, migraine, anxiety, fatigue, etc. — and your nervous system is stuck in survival mode (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) — hydration can be one more drop in the bucket that keeps your system dysregulated.
Your brain is always scanning:
“Are we safe… or not? Is this a perceived threat to survival….or not?”
Hydration is one of the cues it uses to decide.
🧬 Hydration Is a Biological Building Block
Hydration supports nearly every major system:
- Nervous system communication
- Circulation and oxygen delivery
- Digestion and detoxification
- Muscle and joint function
- Temperature regulation and inflammation balance
The body is about 60% water — and the brain and muscles even more than that.
So it’s no surprise that even low-level dehydration can result in symptoms like headaches, brain fog, anxiety, constipation, irritability, lightheadeness, and so on.
These symptoms increase perceived danger, which can amplify pain or trigger flares — especially in people with neuroplastic symptoms.
It’s not that dehydration alone causes chronic symptoms,
but it can absolutely contribute to the cycle — or keep it going.
🌀 A Vicious Cycle: Migraine & Dehydration
Imagine for a moment that you are already slightly dehydrated before a migraine episode starts.
Then nausea or diarrhea hits — and now you're losing more fluid and can’t keep fluids down.
This makes it harder to recover and may even worsen the pain. It’s often impossible to re-hydrate at the times you’re feeling nauseous, so it creates a vicious cycle of becoming more dehydrated, which fuels the brain to perceive danger and feel extremely unsafe. Especially if you are still struck in a pain/fear cycle as well. The situation just compounds.
That’s why staying consistently hydrated is one of the simplest ways to remove one fuel source from the fire.
🧘♀️ Hydration as a Mindbody Ally
I’d like to encourage you to start thinking of hydration not as a task, but as a regulation tool — a way to help your system feel less under threat.
It’s also a subtle but powerful form of self-care that tells your brain:
“I’m here. I’m listening. I’ve got you.”
When your body consistently receives this message of safety, the brain can begin to dial down symptoms — instead of sounding the alarm.
🧠 Hydration as Brain Retraining
Brain retraining refers to any practice that helps shift or change existing neural pathways. For those in chronic pain and symptoms, the work we do is tied to the symptoms, fear responses, or unhelpful patterns. The goal is to create new, safer, healthier pathways in the brain that increase a felt sense of safety and support healing.
Hydration is more than a biological necessity — it’s a neurobiological signal of safety.
When consistent, intentional hydration becomes part of your daily rhythm, it helps shift your brain out of survival mode and supports the retraining of threat-based neural patterns.
💦 What Can You Do?
You’ve probably heard to aim for 2 liters or 64 ounces a day. That’s a good starting point, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t hit these numbers. Hydration needs vary based on factors like weather, activity level, altitude, how much you’re sweating, medications you may take, illness, and even the foods you eat (e.g., watermelon is very hydrating).
One of the most accurate indicators of hydration is urine color — the clearer, the better (though some medications and vitamins can change the color of your urine). And remember, thirst isn’t always a reliable cue; by the time you feel thirsty, you may already be dehydrated.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is not to make this another pressured, perfectionistic task. That “fix it now” mindset feeds stress — which we know increases symptoms.
Instead, try this gentle, mindbody-based approach:
✅ 1. Check in with your body
Ask: “Do I feel dry, tight, foggy, or sluggish?” - These may be signs you need more hydration.
🔑 As you learn to read your body’s cue more easily, self-care is embedded into this habit.
✅ 2. Pair hydration with already existing regulation activity
Take a sip of water after meditating or a grounding exercise. Sip on a cup of warm tea or water as you journal.
🔑 Let your body register that something nourishing is happening.
✅ 3. Don’t panic-drink during a pain flare
If a migraine starts, avoid a fear-based reaction of desperately trying to top up on hydration. Sip slowly, focus on calming the system.
🔑 Use the water as an act of self-compassion — not control or to "fix".
So yes — use a tracking bottle if that helps.
Keep water visible on your desk. Link it to meals or after each cup of coffee. Eat more hydrating foods.
Whatever works — just find simple, consistent ways to stay hydrated.
🧠 Hydration Is Part of Healing — Through Safety
Water alone doesn’t heal neuroplastic symptoms.
But hydration is part of healing — because it helps your brain feel safe, supported, and cared for, and keeps your physiology functioning optimally.
It’s not a cure.
But it’s a powerful ally.
When you stop treating hydration as a chore — and instead, see it as a mindbody ritual — it becomes a tool for real, sustainable healing.
You’re not just drinking water.
You’re creating the conditions for healing.
You’re building trust with your body.
You’re communicating safety.
Other resources:
Come say hello on Instagram @MigraineOasis, LinkedIn @Karen Ash, Facebook Page "Migraine Oasis" and Facebook group "Migraine Oasis Community - Healing from Neuroplastic/TMS Pain".
Check out the Migraine Oasis Podcast - this topic is discussed in Ep 20 and other episodes include topics like triggers, what recovery means, and recovery stories.
And last but not least - if you are looking for personalized support in your recovery journey out of migraine or other chronic neuroplastic symptoms, schedule a Free Consultation Call (link on www.migraineoasis.com home page).