Migraine prevention is a devilishly difficult thing to achieve simply because the cause of migraines can be different for every sufferer. Everyone, it seems, has their own personal “migraine trigger”. Trying to discover your particular migraine trigger, or triggers, can turn out to be a long job.
However, it’s certainly worth putting some effort into it if you can as a positive result can mean a life free from migraine. In the meantime here are five ways in which you can help to prevent a migraine and which you can implement today.
Exercise
Poor circulation has been linked to recurrent migraine attacks. Regular cardio type exercise has been shown to increase the blood flow throughout your body so it would seem to make sense that, if you are not already exercising on a regular basis, you should think about starting. It doesn’t have to be anything super-strenuous like running or hours of circuit training. An exercise that most people can do and which will provide surprising benefit is simply to walk briskly for 30 minutes each day. This will be all you need to see if the exercise is helping your migraine and, if you begin to enjoy the exercise, you can always do more. You will be rewarded with many other general health gains.
Caffeine
When considering foodstuffs as migraine triggers it is difficult to know where to begin as just about everything you eat or drink has the potential to be a migraine trigger. Various tests have implicated caffeine as a contributor to migraines for a lot of people so this might be a good place to start. If you take a lot of coffee or other foodstuffs or drinks that contain caffeine try gradually reducing your intake of any of these. I say gradually because it has been discovered that the withdrawal from caffeine can be as much a cause of migraine as the caffeine itself.
Smoking
If you smoke then giving up smoking could give you many more health benefits than simply preventing migraine. And, of course, “passive” smoking, or breathing in the smoke of other people, can be every bit as likely to be a migraine trigger, so avoid places where people are smoking. These days this isn’t quite the problem as it once was as smoking is prohibited in most public places.
Sleep
It probably wouldn’t occur to most folks that staying up late at night and not getting sufficient sleep could bring on a migraine attack. Do your best to develop some regularity in your sleeping habits; go to bed and get up at the same time each day and make sure you get enough sleep. As with taking more exercise establishing a routine like this will probably pay dividends in making you more relaxed and feeling more energetic.
Lighting
The lighting in the rooms that you spend a lot of time in could be the culprit in triggering off migraines for you. If they are very bright try reducing the intensity by using a softer light. If your work involves the constant use of a computer then take regular breaks so that you aren’t looking at the screen all for long periods at a time.
The migraine triggers listed above are only a small percentage of the possibilities and you may have to continue your search for the best migraine prevention strategy for you. Download our free migraine questionnaire to help you in your quest for migraine prevention.