A Painful Process

Our innate instincts and learned experiences teach us to avoid physical and emotional pain, but how and why do we feel pain? Pain is an experience universal to almost all but in many people it persists in the presence and even absence of injury. One of the aims of neuroscience is to understand how the brain processes and adapts to external and internal stimuli. Join us to learn about the biology of pain, why it can persist, and how we study and treat it.

Migraine is one of the most common and disabling disorders of the brain, affecting over one billion people globally. Importantly, attacks occur in rhythmic patterns that suggest a link to our internal body clock and sleep/wake patterns. I will discuss our recent research exploring this idea and highlighting how good sleep/circadian hygiene might benefit patients.