May 16, 2025 · 12 min · 7 segments
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Josh TurknettHost
Now in several recent episodes, I have discussed the energy crisis model of migraine and specifically the role that mitochondrial dysfunction appears to play in migraine.
In the past, migraines were sometimes viewed as a vascular issue or a problem of hyper excitable neurons.
And while those things may explain bits and pieces of migraine physiology, they don't tell the whole story.
They don't explain why smells can be painful or why you crave salt or chocolate or why sleep can be both a cure and a trigger.
and they don't give us a root cause explanation of why some people get migraine, which the energy crisis theory does.
And for those who have migraine-prone brains, the battery is smaller than normal and the apps on that phone consume more power than they should because of mitochondrial dysfunction, which refers to damage to the cellular organelles that generate energy in the brain.
In the case of your phone, when the battery level drops to a critical threshold, the phone goes into low power mode as it tries to conserve energy.
And in the brain, low power mode produces the prodromal symptoms like yawning, brain fog, irritability, food cravings, which can also be viewed as signs of a hypothalamus that's starting to malfunction.
And then if the battery charge continues to fall, the device will force a shutdown to prevent data corruption.
In the case of the energy crisis model in the brain, that forced shutdown is the migraine attack.
If you want to learn more about this model, check out the episode I recently did entitled, Why Do Some People Get Migraines and Others Don't? So that's the energy crisis model in a nutshell, that migraine attacks occur when the brain can't meet its energy needs, thanks largely to dysfunctional mitochondria.
But that leads to the question of why is a migraine the brain's response to this energy crisis, right? How does that make any sense? And this is where we get to the part about a migraine attack saving your brain.
Now in several recent episodes, I have discussed the energy crisis model of migraine and specifically the role that mitochondrial dysfunction appears to play in migraine.
In the past, migraines were sometimes viewed as a vascular issue or a problem of hyper excitable neurons.
And while those things may explain bits and pieces of migraine physiology, they don't tell the whole story.
They don't explain why smells can be painful or why you crave salt or chocolate or why sleep can be both a cure and a trigger.
and they don't give us a root cause explanation of why some people get migraine, which the energy crisis theory does.
And for those who have migraine-prone brains, the battery is smaller than normal and the apps on that phone consume more power than they should because of mitochondrial dysfunction, which refers to damage to the cellular organelles that generate energy in the brain.
In the case of your phone, when the battery level drops to a critical threshold, the phone goes into low power mode as it tries to conserve energy.
And in the brain, low power mode produces the prodromal symptoms like yawning, brain fog, irritability, food cravings, which can also be viewed as signs of a hypothalamus that's starting to malfunction.
And then if the battery charge continues to fall, the device will force a shutdown to prevent data corruption.
In the case of the energy crisis model in the brain, that forced shutdown is the migraine attack.
If you want to learn more about this model, check out the episode I recently did entitled, Why Do Some People Get Migraines and Others Don't? So that's the energy crisis model in a nutshell, that migraine attacks occur when the brain can't meet its energy needs, thanks largely to dysfunctional mitochondria.
But that leads to the question of why is a migraine the brain's response to this energy crisis, right? How does that make any sense? And this is where we get to the part about a migraine attack saving your brain.
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