Migraine management strategies may help reduce the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine attacks as well as improve acute treatment’s effectiveness.
Lifestyle changes such as getting enough restful sleep, eating healthily and using relaxation techniques may help decrease migraine attacks and their severity. SEEDS is an acronym that describes five lifestyle modifications that may help combat migraine.
Identifying triggers
Triggers of migraine attacks include bright lights, food, stress, skipping meals, sleep deprivation and weather changes – though lesser known triggers include cured meats, dairy products, alcohol and caffeine as potential factors.
Maintaining a headache diary can help you identify which triggers are likely to lead to attacks. For best results, keep this diary for several months and record when an attack takes place; this will provide a clearer understanding of what’s triggering migraines and allow you to better prevent future ones.
An elimination diet may help identify which specific food groups or items could be contributing to migraines. Also try eating at the same time every day and staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
Avoiding triggers
Many migraine triggers can be hard to avoid, such as stress, changing weather and menstrual cycles, fluorescent lighting (especially flickering or fluorescent) as well as certain foods, alcohol and caffeine products as well as certain odors; but taking steps that you can control can help avoid attacks altogether or at least lessen their severity.
Keep a headache diary to identify potential triggers of headaches. Document when and why you experience headaches – when, how long they lasted and what activities or diet were involved. If a pattern emerges such as getting headaches after stressful work weeks or when discontinuing caffeine consumption, keeping track of that may allow you to pinpoint and address its cause and eliminate its presence from future attacks.
Make sure that you are eating regularly without skipping meals, and getting adequate rest. If stress becomes an issue for you, relaxation techniques or biofeedback may be useful in alleviating it. Stay hydrated by drinking enough water. Speak to your physician if you think sleeping issues might be linked to medical conditions like sleep apnea.
Relaxation techniques
Relaxation techniques can help prevent headaches, reduce migraine attacks in severity and duration, and relieve any associated pain during an attack. Such techniques include biofeedback and breathing exercises which are most useful when used preventively but may be useful during an existing headache episode as well.
Biofeedback provides individuals with the skills to hone their autonomic nervous system functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature and muscle tension through monitoring devices that observe desired behaviors such as heart rate or skin temperature changes. EMG and thermal biofeedback have proven especially successful at treating headaches.
As long as you focus on breathing deeply and relaxing a group of muscles at once, inhaling and exhaling deeply can be used to soothe your nervous system and relax your mind. At first it may take practice before reaching the level of deep relaxation that relieves migraines; over time however you will become adept at reaching it on command – this will reduce sensitivity of your nervous system to changes such as weather or hormonal fluctuations in the environment.
Getting enough sleep
Sleep is an integral component of migraine management strategies. A lack of restful rest, or any disruptions to your sleeping pattern, may increase the likelihood of migraine headaches. To maximize effectiveness, aim to stick with a schedule consistent with your natural rhythms (i.e. going to bed and waking up at similar times each day–including weekends); try as much as possible to maintain this routine even when traveling or sick.
Simple lifestyle adjustments may help to increase the quality of your sleep and decrease headaches. These changes include creating an enjoyable bedtime routine and limiting exposure to screens or stimulating activities before bedtime, along with exercises designed to promote better restful slumber. Exercise may also promote health sleep.
Other non-pharmacological preventive therapies for migraine include acupuncture and massage therapy, which reduce pain by blocking pain signals in the brain and modulating nerve activity. More research needs to be conducted in order to ascertain these techniques’ efficacy in terms of migraine prevention. Behavioral management techniques such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or biofeedback may also prove beneficial in lessening frequency of attacks.
