London, Sep 17 (IANS): Got a throbbing or pulsing sensation in one area of the head? Forget pills and go between the sheets to relieve migraine symptoms.

In a recent survey by German researchers, 60 percent of those with migraines and 37 percent of those with cluster headaches admitted that sex helped reduce the intensity of their symptoms.

One in five patients was left without any pain at all, said the survey that included 800 migraine patients and 200 patients with intensely painful cluster headaches.

During the migraine or cluster headache attack, majority of patients avoid sexual activity.

"Our findings suggest that sex can actually lead to partial or complete relief of headache in some migraine and a few cluster headache patients," said a team of researchers from the University of Munster in Germany.

During the sex, hormones called endorphins are released which act as natural painkillers to reduce pain instantly.

The study appeared published in the journal Cephalalgia.