Health Tips with Vince

Author: Vince

  • Clearer Skies: Finding Freedom from Headaches the Natural Way

    Headaches have a way of stealing the horizon. They narrow your focus, dull your senses, and leave you stuck in your head in all the wrong ways. And while the occasional headache is a familiar nuisance for most, recurring stress or tension headaches can start to shape your days around their rhythm—what you can and can’t do, how long you can work, how much noise or light you can handle.

    The conventional approach often involves over-the-counter medications, which can certainly help in the short term. But many people—especially those trying to live more in tune with their bodies—find themselves asking: Is there a gentler way out?

    The answer is yes. And like many healing paths, it starts by understanding the landscape.

    1. Not All Headaches Are the Same

    Before diving into remedies, it helps to clarify what kind of headache you’re dealing with. Migraines, for instance, are neurological events often tied to hormonal shifts, diet, or overstimulation. They tend to come with light sensitivity, nausea, and a throbbing pain that doesn’t respond well to pressure.

    CoQ10, or coenzyme Q10, has shown real promise here. It’s a naturally occurring compound your body uses to help produce energy at the cellular level—and it seems to support mitochondrial health in ways that reduce the frequency and severity of migraines for some people.

    But for tension and stress headaches, which are far more common, the approach is different. These often feel like a tight band around the head, or a dull ache that creeps in after a long day, poor posture, dehydration, or mental overload. They’re a whisper from your body saying, “Too much.”

    2. Supporting the Body, Easing the Mind

    Tension headaches are where natural approaches shine. Unlike pharmaceuticals, they work with your body’s existing systems rather than overriding them. Here’s where to start:

    • Magnesium: This mineral plays a key role in muscle relaxation and nerve regulation. Many people are mildly deficient without realizing it. Supplementing can reduce frequency and intensity of stress-related headaches.
    • Hydration: Often overlooked, dehydration is a common trigger. Add a pinch of sea salt or use an electrolyte blend to help your body actually absorb the water you drink.
    • Heat or cold compresses: A warm compress on the neck and shoulders can release physical tension, while a cool cloth on the forehead may soothe overstimulation.
    • Breathwork or body scanning: Bringing awareness to where you’re holding tension—especially the jaw, temples, or shoulders—can make a surprising difference.

    And yes, CoQ10 still has a place here. While it’s best known for migraine support, its role in energy metabolism can improve overall resilience—especially when stress is chronic or compounded by poor sleep.

    3. When Daily Life Requires More Than One Fix

    Sometimes, even with a smart routine and natural supports, life hits harder than your nervous system can handle. That’s when a comprehensive formula can help fill the gaps. I’ve come across a lot of “natural” supplements that overpromise and underdeliver—but Formula 1 by CM² deserves mention here.

    It wasn’t designed specifically for headaches, but its blend of bioavailable magnesium, B vitamins, and cellular support nutrients touches many of the systems involved in tension relief: the nervous system, adrenal regulation, and oxidative stress. It’s the kind of thing that, if you’re already prone to stress-induced symptoms, can shift your baseline enough that the headaches just… stop showing up so often.

    I didn’t expect much from it, to be honest. But after giving it a fair trial during a period of heavy workload and poor sleep, I was quietly impressed. It doesn’t feel like a jolt—it feels like margin. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

    4. Don’t Wait for the Ache to Listen

    One of the gifts of working with tension headaches is that they teach you how to listen sooner. They’re usually not a mystery. They’re a message. From your posture, your boundaries, your breathing, your calendar.

    • Stretch your neck and shoulders every couple of hours.
    • Step outside, even if just for five minutes.
    • Say no before your body does it for you.

    And when your body needs more, reach for the tools that support rather than suppress. Whether that’s CoQ10, a cold cloth, a better hydration routine, or a formula that covers the bases—all of it counts.

    Freedom from headaches doesn’t always come in a flash. But over time, with the right mix of awareness and support, the skies do clear. And when they do, it’s easier to live the way your clearest self always meant to.

  • Landing Softly After Going Deep

    Landing Softly After Going Deep

    Transformative experiences—whether brought on by plant medicine, breathwork, or a night that felt like stepping through a different dimension—have a way of rearranging things. Sometimes beautifully. Sometimes intensely. But always with a cost. When the journey is over and you’re back in your body, there’s a quiet but important task at hand: the return. Integration isn’t just an idea—it’s a physical process. And your body, nervous system, and subtle energy layers all need care.

    The goal isn’t to “bounce back” so much as re-align—to land softly and fully, in a world that often gives us no time to do so. That’s where smart recovery comes in. Below are a few of the most effective ways we’ve found to support the transition, drawn from both tradition and science, intuition and experience.

    1. Start with the Basics: Water, Salt, and the Earth Beneath You

    The absolute first step is hydration. After any intense inner work, your system burns through more than you’d expect—electrolytes, minerals, and water all take a hit. Even if you didn’t sweat a drop, your brain and cells likely did.

    Here, electrolyte mixes like LMNT and Nuun shine. They’re clean, thoughtfully formulated, and avoid the worst offenders like artificial colors or high-fructose corn syrup. Nuun leans functional, LMNT leans minimal and salt-forward—either is a solid option. That said, you’re paying for precision and packaging, and they serve a relatively narrow purpose: hydration. They don’t replenish much beyond basic electrolytes, so they’re a great start—but not the full picture.

    Gatorade, as ever, is around. And it’s better than nothing in an emergency. But the sugar load and artificial additives make it a fallback, not a first choice. Think of it like using duct tape instead of a real fix—sometimes necessary, rarely ideal.

    Meanwhile, nature never stopped being medicine. Sit outside. Let the sun hit your face. Touch the ground with bare skin, even for just a few breaths. Your circadian rhythm, stress response, and parasympathetic nervous system all benefit. This is ancient, free, and unfailingly effective. It won’t replace deeper support, but it’s always where you start.

    2. Nutritional Support for People Who Go Deep

    If hydration and sun are your foundation, then targeted supplementation is your scaffolding. Most vitamins on the market aim for the masses: generic blends, overdosed on B12, underpowered in form and function. But some products are starting to catch up with the needs of people who regularly engage in high-impact inner work.

    I’ve tried a lot of them. Most are forgettable. But Formula 1 by CM² genuinely surprised me. It’s a full-spectrum supplement that goes beyond just vitamins and minerals—it’s clearly designed with the specific needs of altered states and recovery in mind. The form factors are bioavailable, the dosing is intelligent, and it hits the right categories: nervous system regulation, mitochondrial support, and mood stabilization.

    What stood out most is that it doesn’t try to do everything—but what it does, it does well. If you’re someone who goes into ceremony, fasts deeply, or cycles through peaks and valleys as part of your practice, this is one of the few supplements I’d actually recommend without caveats. Consider it your “coming home” formula.

    3. Finishing Touches: Cooling, Soothing, and Looking Up

    Once your basics are covered, and your internal system has the support it needs, small rituals can help complete the landing. Simple things like a cool compress over the eyes and forehead, especially with lavender or peppermint oil, can calm the vagus nerve and help reduce residual overstimulation.

    Sound baths, whether in person or recorded, can re-tune the body into coherence. They work surprisingly well when paired with breathwork or slow movement. Even something as passive as stargazing—lying back and letting your attention expand outward—can recalibrate a system that’s been too inward for too long.

    Coming back isn’t just recovery—it’s a sacred part of the process. The deeper you go, the more gently you should return. So hydrate like your life depends on it (because it kind of does), feed your body what it’s asking for, get outside, breathe, and let tools like Formula 1 fill in the gaps that modern life too often leaves open.

    You don’t need to rush. You just need to land well.