5 Habits That Can Trigger Migraine Attacks

Migraine attacks can be precipitated by certain events, foods, or changes in your body. These events are known as precipitants or triggers. Although precipitants do not actually cause migraines, they can make you more vulnerable to attacks.

It can be very useful to know these risk habits in order to be able to take them into account in daily life and thus try to avoid migraine attacks. In this article we will tell you 5 habits that you can be doing and thus triggering the migraine. Get to know them!

What is migraine?

Not all headaches are migraines, nor are all migraines associated with headaches. A migraine is a severe, throbbing, recurring headache  that usually affects one side of the head, although it can affect both.

The pain begins suddenly and may be preceded or accompanied by other visual, neurological, or gastrointestinal symptoms.

Habits that could be triggering your migraine attacks

In a study with 200 migraine patients, more than 90% of patients identified at least one precipitant associated with their migraines: the most common being physical or emotional stress (77%), menstruation (72%), exposure to light bright or flickering (65%) and various odors (61%).

1. Drink alcohol

A survey of more than 2,000 Dutch people has revealed that many migraine sufferers avoid alcohol because it can trigger severe headaches. 78% of patients who drank alcohol mentioned red wine as the specific drink that could trigger an attack.

The authors of the study published in the journal ‘ European Journal of Neurology ‘ point out that alcohol is a trigger of migraine, since it affects around a third of those prone to migraines, and the amount of alcohol and the time that is takes time to cause a headache also vary.

2. Stress

Stress is the most frequent trigger. Everyone has felt stress and anxiety at some point. Stress is a response to an emotional stimulus (mostly a threat) in a given situation. Anxiety is a reaction to stress.

Without a doubt, those who suffer from migraine attacks show a difficulty in adapting to moments of change. Additionally, you are known to have a predisposition to anxiety. People who suffer from migraine attacks are often perfectionists and demanding. There is thus a clear association between migraine and anxiety.

3. The dream

There is a clear relationship between sleep and migraine, which also encompasses broad and diverse aspects. Variation in sleep rhythm, whether due to excess or lack, is recognized as a trigger for seizures.

Approximately half of patients with migraine experience difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep: 38% sleep an average of 6 hours or less per night and there is, coinciding with this disorder, a significant increase in frequency and severity of migraine attacks, with 71% headaches on waking.

4. Feeding

Although there are no conclusive studies that show in detail the mechanism by which a given product can cause migraines or other types of headaches, some research suggests that the foods most at risk are those that contain large amounts of a class of substances called biogenic amines.

Two of these amines,  tyramine and histamine, are the most suspect, and are found in:

• Processed meats
• Preserves and smoked products.
• Peanuts
• Avocados
• Alcoholic drinks.
• Shellfish
• Cheeses

5. Smoking

Tobacco acts as a precipitating factor for headaches, specifically migraines. This is indicated by a study that shows that smokers have more migraine attacks. The work has appeared in  The Journal of Headache and Pain .

The researchers highlight the important role that dose plays. The results of the interviews reveal that the migraine begins with five cigarettes a day.

Finally, to help you assess the risk factors that lead to developing migraines, we recommend keeping a kind of personal diary. In this diary, you can write down what day and under what circumstances you had a migraine attack as well as other types of characteristics of that attack.