Nobody wants a migraine – that throbbing head, the vision problems, sickness, and fatigue. Fortunately, migraine prevention is often possible with some clever strategies. Migraines are defined as severe headaches that often recur. A migraine is characterized by a strong pain, accompanied by sensitivity to sounds and lights, often nausea, and often vomiting.
Experts are still not completely sure why migraines occur. But they are linked with both blood vessel and neurological movements in the brain. People who have a reduced threshold where neurons are triggered become oversensitive to this activity. The smallest activity in the brain cells can set off a chain reaction that causes inflammation in the blood vessels, and pain.
Prevention is better than cure. Since migraines are often triggered by certain activities, if you learn to identify these triggers you can often prevent a migraine from happening in the first place. Here are some ideas for naturally beating migraines.
How to Prevent Migraines
1) Take regular exercise – one of the first things you can try if you suffer from migraines is a regular exercise regime. It doesn’t have to be intense physical exercise – activities like swimming, walking, dancing, and yoga can all help. Exercise has been shown to lower the migraine-triggering sensibility, and can therefore help to prevent migraines from occurring and lessen the pain associated with migraine.
2) Track your migraines – mark when they happen on a calendar. Add other factors to the calendar that may help you identify your migraine triggers such as events, certain foods, your hormones, or other factors.
3) Don’t miss meals – your migraine response can often be heightened when you go more than three hours without eating. This is because your blood sugar levels peak and trough, causing pain to develop as a response to the stimuli.
4) Is it caffeine? – when you drink a lot of coffee or other caffeinated drinks you can prepare for a migraine, which is the result of withdrawal from caffeine. Try to get your caffeine consumption down to a low level so you do not experience the drastic withdrawal symptoms that may trigger migraine.
5) Develop a consistent sleep routine – when you go without sleep you are more likely to suffer from migraines. Develop a routine that helps you go to sleep at the same time each night.
6) Get iced – ice acts as an anti-inflammatory. It can help stop pain when you apply an ice pack to your temples. Keep the temperature to a comfortable level, and experiment with positioning the ice pack in different place.
7) Look at your estrogen levels – when you experience a decline in estrogen this may also be the trigger for migraines. If you think that your migraines are linked to your menstrual cycle or to your hormones, speak to your doctor for hormone therapy.
8) Try acupuncture – many studies have found that acupuncture helps to prevent migraines as effectively as many drugs, but without the side effects. Treatment with acupuncture can be a real pain-reliever for many people.
9) Massage helps prevent migraines – stop painful shoulder and neck spasms with gentle massage. You can also benefit from the gentle practices of yoga and tai chi.
Helpful Supplements for Preventing Migraines
10) Try Butterbur – experts suggest that this herb may help to prevent migraines as it helps blood flow healthily around the body including to the brain.
11) Take Feverfew supplementation – this is a remedy that may help to stop migraines before they occur. In studies, feverfew has resulted in a lower number of headaches and minimized pain when taking the supplement.
12) Magnesium often works as a migraine prevention remedy – magnesium is an essential nutrient in the body and is available in high levels in certain spices, cereals, nuts, leafy vegetables, tea, and coffee. Experts say that during a migraine attack the brain suffers from low levels of magnesium, therefore, they say that taking magnesium is effective to prevent migraines from occurring as it lowers the risk of magnesium deficiency. In most cases it is recommended to take magnesium at high doses over a relatively long period of time.
13) Use Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) – this is like a vitamin and is available in supplement form. It is an antioxidant and can also help to reduce the number of days with a migraine by up to 50 percent, according to some studies. It may also help to reduce the severity of migraine headaches.
14) Try riboflavin – this is also known as vitamin B2. It is also useful as an antioxidant. You can get riboflavin from eggs and lean meat, nuts, dairy, and legumes. It has been studied, and participants in trials have experienced fewer migraines and less severe migraines when taking riboflavin.
Try some of these remedies and see how the help with migraine prevention. It is always a good idea to look at natural remedies to see if they can assist with migraine prevention without side effects.
