Making changes to your daily routine, can help decrease the frequency and severity of migraine attacks. Recent research uses the mnemonic SEEDS to outline five types of lifestyle changes you can make to manage migraine: Sleep, Exercise, Eat, Diary and Stress.
Migraine is a genetic disorder, something you are born with. However, you should feel empowered to make lifestyle changes that eliminate or reduce environmental triggers and can reduce the number of migraine attacks you have. But those triggers—like stress, certain foods or poor sleep—are not the cause of migraine.
There are over 100 different genes that may be associated with migraine risk, and everyone has a slightly different combination, meaning everyone’s experience with migraine is unique.
Some people might not experience migraine attacks very often while others experience attacks very often and respond to small triggers. Avoiding specific environmental triggers can make it less likely you’ll have an attack.
SEEDS for Migraine
While there are plenty of things out of our control—the weather, everyday stress, a random bad night’s sleep—the five areas where patients can influence their migraine triggers.
Sleep
Many people with migraine find their sleep is affected. Migraine attacks and pain can make it hard to sleep. When someone with migraine doesn’t sleep well, it can trigger more attacks. That cycle makes sleep an important part of migraine management.
Keeping a consistent sleep schedule can help manage migraine. Your bedtime and the number of hours of sleep you get the same each night should be similar.
Ideally, seven to eight hours a night sleep has been recommended. However, the key is consistency. If you wake feeling rested after five hours, or nine hours of sleep, keep that as your consistent number of hours.
Good sleep hygiene is also important. The goal is that 90% of the time you’re in your bed, you should be asleep. If you’re unable to sleep, get up, go outside your bedroom, try to do something else. Nothing too stimulating (i.e. no phones, iPads, etc!), read a book for example, and then return to bed and see if you can get back to sleep again.
Phones, tablets and TVs often make their way into the bedroom, but screen time can activate the brain. To help prepare your brain for sleep, avoid using electronics in the two hours leading up to bedtime. A relaxing bedtime routine and a cool, dark room will also improve your chances of sleep.
Exercise
For some people, exercise may trigger an attack or make an attack worse. But research has shown that exercise can reduce the frequency, severity and duration of migraine attacks. Some studies even show that exercise is more effective than the standard oral preventative treatments. It’s believed that exercise elevates levels of beta endorphins, chemicals that can reduce stress and pain, and reduce migraine attacks.
See my other blog on this aspect.
Eat (Food and Hydration)
It is important to eat regular meals throughout the day, stay hydrated and avoid fasting. Studies have linked fasting and a lower threshold for head pain and migraine attacks.
Eat six small meals a day to keep blood sugar levels steady. Meals that are high in protein, fibre and healthy fats and low on processed foods will help prevent dips in blood sugar that may trigger a migraine attack.
Some people find that specific foods, such as red wine or caffeine, will trigger migraine attacks, not everyone has food triggers. Research is finding that craving some foods (e.g. chocolate) occurs during what is called the premonitory phase of a migraine attack, so craving chocolate may actually be a part of your migraine attack.
As for hydration, it’s important to drink plenty of water to account for your body’s loss of water through sweating, urination and other bodily processes. The general recommendation is eight 250ml glasses of water a day. Caffeinated tea and coffee do not count, as they will increase your water loss by making you urinate more. You may also need electrolytes, so incorporating sports drinks can be helpful.
Diary
To receive an accurate diagnosis of your migraine and optimized treatment options, keep a headache diary and share it with your doctor. A diary is an important tool to identify patterns that could suggest episodic, chronic, menstrually related or other types of migraine and guide your doctor to the appropriate preventive and/or acute treatments.
Stress
While we all experience ups and downs in our day-to-day life, managing stress is a crucial part of managing migraine because stress can be a trigger for migraine attacks. Virtual tools, such as apps like Headspace and Calm, are helpful resources that can guide you through relaxation techniques, mindfulness exercises, meditations, breathing techniques and biofeedback.
Find activities that decrease your stress, and if possible, avoid or limit those things that increase your stress. Making small lifestyle changes can have a significant impact on your migraine management.
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