Migraines can be crippling when they occur. While there is not much to celebrate about these debilitating headaches, many individuals suffering from them may have some warning that they will occur. Others may be able to determine specific environmental triggers that they can then avoid. Incorporate these tricks into your daily life to help you avoid migraine pain.
1. Keep a migraine diary
Migraines often surface with patterns. If you start to notice what you have been doing just before a migraine begins or what foods you were eating, you can begin to alter your behavior to avoid the headache from the start.
2. Know early warnings
Some migraine sufferers experience auras, which can manifest as visual disturbances. If you are experience these, this can be a clear sign that a migraine is about to happen. If not, you may experience other symptoms including fatigue, dizziness, or nausea.
3. Change your eating habits
Based on your diary, you can begin to eliminate foods that trigger headaches for you. You can replace these foods with other choices that can boost your body’s ability to fight headache pain such as omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish and foods that are rich in magnesium.
4. Stay hydrated
Dehydration can contribute to headache pain so drink lots of water throughout the day.
5. Cut out caffeine
Caffeine is a stimulant that can exacerbate, if not cause, severe headache pain. The process of eliminating caffeine will induce withdrawal like symptoms and may cause more migraines, but the long-term benefits are worth it.
6. Have a regular sleep schedule
Too little and too much sleep are both known triggers for migraine headaches. Develop nighttime routines to help you create more regular sleeping patterns.
7. Limit alcohol
Beer, wine, and liquor all have been implicated in triggering migraine pain. In some cases, it is the alcohol itself. For others, they may have a sensitivity to the ingredients found in the drinks, such as tannins and sulfates in red wine.
8. Avoid or manage stress
While environmental triggers are often big causes of migraines, stress in your day-to-day life can also cause headache pain to surface. Manage stress in your life as much as possible. Learn meditation techniques to help yourself remain calm and focused.
9. Exercise
Regular fitness routines can help limit your stress and boost your mood and the right hormones in your body. This can help eliminate the occurrences of migraine headaches.
10. Talk to your doctor about treatment
If changes in your diet or your stress level don’t seem to be helping to manage your migraines, you may want to talk with your doctor about medications or other therapies that may work for you.
Are you concerned about how migraine headaches are affecting your lifestyle?