Migraines cause intense, excruciating headaches that often last hours or days and may lead to visual disturbances or weakness on one side of the head.
Preventative measures can be just as powerful in stopping migraines from ever starting; diet, regular exercise and sleeping patterns, managing stress levels are key elements in mitigating migraine attacks.
Eat a Healthy Diet
If you suffer from migraines, you know their debilitating nature can be crippling. By taking steps to avoid migraines and improve quality of life, taking preventive steps may reduce symptoms and enhance quality of life. The first step should be identifying any potential triggers; such as aged cheeses, alcohol, caffeine withdrawal or withdrawal symptoms or food additives like nitrates found in many lunchmeats or monosodium glutamate; some individuals also find certain lighting and glare trigger their headaches.
Sleep is also essential. A regular schedule and eating regular meals, rather than skipping any, is key, while staying hydrated is equally as vital; Strauss recommends drinking water with each meal and another when you wake up and one at night; she adds that it would also be wise to limit consumption of beverages that contain caffeine and sugar as part of an effective strategy.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Sleep is one of the best ways to prevent migraines, and will also allow your body to function optimally – helping reduce pain from an attack should one occur.
Those suffering from migraine should try their best to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water throughout the day and limiting caffeine-containing drinks as these can exacerbate your symptoms.
If you suffer from migraine headaches on a regular basis, consulting your physician about preventive medicine could be of great assistance. He or she could prescribe something that helps stop them and may begin on a low dose so as to not cause side effects; additionally they will likely provide advice about dealing with triggers and managing episodes once they occur.
Exercise Regularly
Though you cannot prevent all migraines, developing healthy habits into your daily routine may help. A headache diary — in which you note symptoms for each migraine attack as it occurs and what’s going on at that moment — may help identify triggers.
Consistency in sleep and eating schedules, as well as refraining from over-exercising is important. Be sure to drink enough liquids like water. Nontraditional therapies like yoga, biofeedback or relaxation training could also provide valuable assistance.
There are certain headache triggers you can influence, including weather conditions and hormonal shifts that occur during menstruation or perimenopause, while new medicines target migraines specifically to reduce episodes and pain severity. Erenumab (Aimovig), Fremanezumab (Ajovy), and Galcanezumab (Emgality) injections may provide effective preventative treatment in people who suffer chronic migraine or episodic migraine and have failed other medication; Botox has also been proven effective.
Manage Your Stress
Stress is one of the primary triggers of migraine headaches. While it may be impossible to completely eradicate all sources of tension from your life, lifestyle changes that help alleviate stress may reduce or prevent headaches altogether – such as developing healthy sleep habits, regularly exercising and practicing relaxation techniques.
For effective stress reduction, try engaging in activities such as yoga, meditation and deep breathing. A journal is also an effective way to write down what causes you stress while finding solutions to address them. Group your stressors according to which can be resolved directly while others will improve over time – this way you can prioritise them appropriately and manage them better.
Maintain a regular schedule and steer clear of foods known to trigger migraines such as aged cheeses, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol and processed meats. Over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or paracetamol may provide temporary relief.
