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Top lifestyle changes for migraines
Lifestyle changes to reduce migraines: sleep, diet, stress, and more
Migraines can be a debilitating part of daily life. Throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and nausea can all make it difficult to function. While medications and therapies can provide relief, lifestyle changes are a powerful — and often overlooked — tool that can make a serious difference in migraine prevention and management. Certain behaviors and routines can either trigger migraines or help reduce their frequency and intensity.
Here, we'll take a look at five lifestyle changes that can significantly reduce migraines, plus simple, actionable tips you can take to potentially reduce migraine severity and frequency.
Reduce Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol is a well-known migraine trigger. It can dehydrate the body, negatively affect sleep quality, and cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels — all of which can prompt a migraine. Red wine, in particular, contains histamines and tannins that are linked to migraines in sensitive individuals.
Try these tips for reducing your alcohol consumption:
- Track your intake. Use a journal or an app to keep tabs on when and how much you drink. You might begin to see patterns between alcohol consumption and your migraines.
- Try alcohol-free alternatives. There are plenty of non-alcoholic wines, beers, and cocktails that can help you enjoy socializing without triggering migraines.
- Stay hydrated. If you do choose to drink occasionally, follow each alcohol drink with a glass of water to combat dehydration.
- Set boundaries. Let your friends and family know you're cutting back on alcohol to improve your health. Accountability from people who can can help you stay on track.
Reduce or Eliminate Dairy
Though not a trigger for everyone, dairy can contribute to inflammation and may contain hormones or additives related to migraines. For some people, even small amounts of dairy can trigger symptoms.
Try these ideas to cut down on or eliminate your dairy consumption:
- Try dairy-free alternatives. Oat, almond, soy, and coconut milk are all good alternatives to traditional dairy products. Many brands now offer dairy-free cheeses, yogurts, and ice creams.
- Read ingredient labels. Dairy hides in many processed foods. Look out for ingredients like casein, whey, and lactose.
- Track how you feel. Try eliminating dairy for two to four weeks, then slowly reintroducing dairy products. Keep a symptom diary to see if there's a correlation between your dairy intake and your migraine symptoms.
- Get your calcium elsewhere. If dairy isn't a good fit for you, there are plenty of other ways to get calcium in your diet. Leafy greens, chia seeds, and tofu can all help you hit your calcium goals.
Improve Your Sleep Quality
Sleep and migraines are deeply connected. Too much or too little sleep, poor sleep quality, and inconsistent sleep patterns can all trigger migraines. Quality rest gives the brain time to recover and reset, while poor sleep can leave you more vulnerable to attacks.
Try these strategies to improve your sleep quality:
- Stick to a consistent schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even on weekends.
- Create a calming bedtime routine. Reduce stimulation before bed by turning off screens, dimming lights, and doing something relaxing like reading or taking a warm bath.
- Limit caffeine and alcohol. Both can interfere with the deep stages of sleep and disrupt your sleep cycles.
- Make sure your sleep environment sets you up for success. A cool, dark, quiet room is best.
Reduce Screen Time
Extended screen exposure can cause eye strain, disrupt sleep, and increase light sensitivity — all of which are common migraine triggers. Bright lights, flickering screens, and blue light exposure from phones or computers can provoke a migraine — or worsen an existing one.
Consider implementing these tips to reduce your screen time:
- Follow the 20-20-20 rule. For every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds to reduce eye strain.
- Use blue light filters. Many devices have settings or apps that reduce blue light, which can lessen the impact devices have on your sleep-wake cycles.
- Take regular breaks. Build screen-free time into your day. Stretch, go on a walk, and take breaks to participate in activities that don't involve a screen.
- Adjust screen settings. Lower brightness, increase font size, and/or reduce the glare on your phone or other device by applying an anti-reflective coating.
Practice Stress Management
Stress is one of the most common migraine triggers. Whether it's daily tension or the aftermath of a particularly stressful event, your brain and body's response to stress can set off symptoms. Learning to manage stress effectively can lower your migraine frequency and help you stay more in control of your health.
Try these stress reduction tips:
- Practice mindfulness or meditation. Taking just a few minutes each day to practice deep breathing, body scans, or meditation with guided imagery can help to reduce your stress levels.
- Get regular exercise. Low-impact activities like walking, yoga, and swimming release endorphins that combat stress.
- Try journaling. Writing down your thoughts or worries can help you gain perspective and release built-up tension.
Tracking Makes a Difference
Even with the best of intentions, it can be hard to figure out exactly what triggers your migraines, especially if your symptoms don't seem to follow a predictable pattern. Evidation's MigraineSmart tracker allows you to log migraine occurrences, symptoms, and potential triggers by integrating data that tracks your sleep, diet, and stress levels. Over time, this data can reveal trends that help you and your healthcare provider build an effective migraine prevention strategy.
If you're ready to take action towards more symptom-free days, we're here to help. Click here to download Evidation and start using MigraineSmart today.
Meet Our Community of Evidation Members
We recently shared a survey out to our community. The feedback and responses we’ve been receiving from our work and research brings us comfort and assurance knowing that the Evidation app has made a positive impact on your lives.
At Evidation, we're committed to putting our community first and to helping you reach your health goals no matter how big or small. We recently shared a survey out to our community. The feedback and responses we’ve been receiving from our work and research brings us comfort and assurance knowing that the Evidation app has made a positive impact on your lives. Our community of members is our driving force to create and learn new things that help you reach your health goals. Your stories have truly hit it home for us, and we love reading them.
We’re excited to continue to be part of your health journey and guide you in any step you need to keep achieving. Want to hear more about what our community of members feel? Meet the community and read their responses:
“I’ve been using Evidation for about 2 months now. I need to get back into exercising to earn more points. I like that it offers interesting articles to read and surveys. I enjoy Evidation because it will help me to reach my goals!” — (Emily D., Michigan)
“I have been using Evidation for a few years now. I participated in the 1yr Cognitive Health Study that really helped me to know how to improve my cognitive health and protect my brain from damage due to diet and environment. It motivated me to start an exercise class for seniors. This photo was last week. As of today we have 11 in the class. I am blessed!” — (Janet A., California)
“I have been using Evidation for probably close to 2 years now. I am hoping more people continue to use this so that data can be collected on activity, diet, weight, and sleep patterns and be studied to see the effects on health. This app has definitely made me track my weight closer and log my food more as well. I think this is a great app that may motivate people to make changes for a healthier lifestyle and better quality of life.” — (Ryan A., Florida)
“I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the participants in the [cognitive health] study. It was a great experience and has made me more aware of what I need to do to keep my memory healthy. It has taught me which foods are essential for mental health and the need for exercise.” — (Carol C., PA)
“I have been using Evidation since the beginning of the year and it has been an awesome tool to quantifying my activities each day. I am a marathon runner but Evidation has been awesome for seeing all of the activities aside from running. It also just runs in the background of my daily life and will eventually earn me some money. I have been managing my own blog for my running for the past year and Evidation is changing the game for me.” — (Amanda R., South Carolina)
“I’ve been using Evidation now for about a month and a half and it’s amazing that I can earn money for being active! I challenge myself everyday to walk more and more to earn even more points then I did the day before. Cheers to being healthy! :)” — (Madison S., Indiana)
“It has been difficult to find a health routine to fit my third shift schedule. Working from midnight to 8 am sometimes forces you to eat bad food to stay awake! Fitbit and Evidation keep me accountable. I am now on a workout routine that gives me energy to put my all into work and my relationships outside of work.” — (Lauren B., Ohio)
“Evidation has been great in motivating me to get to a better place. Seeing the points I accumulate only makes me want to do more! I signed up as a means to better my health due to having high blood pressure since the age of 3. About two years ago, I decided to take up running to help do my part. Since then I have been getting faster, going farther, and feeling better than I ever have!” — (Eddy R., Pennsylvania)
“Having an app pay me to work out definitely has given me the motivation to join a gym and become a healthier happier person. I was also part of a migraine study which I hope my data is used to help someway in the future.” — (Katie N., MA)
Thanks again to all of our Evidation Members who have already shared their amazing stories. We’d love to hear from more of you! What does Evidation mean to you? What do you want to achieve? How can we help get you there? And let’s not forget, you can be a part of our Evidation community! Check out some of their awesome smiles below.
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Can sleep patterns tell us the severity of our anxiety or depression?
Depression and anxiety can have a huge impact on our daily lives and overall health. It can affect our mood, social interactions, sleep and more, but can our daily behaviors predict the severity of our anxiety and depression? Our research team sought to find out more.
We know that anxiety and depression affect many of you, with 7 out of 10 adults in the U.S. saying they experience stress or anxiety daily. Depression and anxiety can have a huge impact on our daily lives and overall health. It can affect our mood, social interactions, sleep and more, but can our daily behaviors predict the severity of our anxiety and depression? Our research team sought to find out more.
What we tested
We enrolled over 1,000 participants in a clinical study with self-reported anxiety and depression and assessed the participants’ mental health states by looking at the following for each individual:
- Anxiety and depression symptoms
- Number of hospitalizations and ER visits for anxiety/depression
- Use of anxiety and depression medications
We then looked at participants’ sleep metrics and patterns for the previous three months.
What we learned
Severe depression was significantly associated with inconsistent and disordered sleep patterns, such as spending a great amount of time in bed awake. Individuals taking medications for their anxiety and/or depression were likely to sleep more compared to those not receiving treatment, however, they also had inconsistent sleep patterns. Participants who had been previously hospitalized for anxiety and/or depression were more likely to have inconsistent sleep patterns as well.
What does this mean?
We all know that a lack of sleep can affect our daily lives, but it can also be associated with severe depression and anxiety. This means that certain sleep patterns might be able to predict the severity of an individual’s mental well-being in the future. With further research we’d like to understand if tracking sleep behavior could predict changes in the severity of an individual’s mental health condition.
Thanks to all of our members who participated in this research about how daily behaviors, like sleep, can tell help researchers to better understand anxiety and depression. If you’re interested in contributing to innovative research, we are regularly running new studies at Evidation.
3 Reasons Why Tracking Your Health Can Help You Participate in Better Health Outcomes
Here are the top three reasons why tracking your health with Evidation will help you be part of something just a little bit bigger than yourself this holiday season.
According to 2015 Pew Research, “one in three cell phone owners have used their phone to look for health information.” Four years ago, we started Evidation to help everyone understand their personal health, take control of their health journey, and help contribute to improving the health of everyone. Here are the top three reasons why tracking your health with Evidation will help you be part of something just a little bit bigger than yourself this holiday season.
1. Actively participate in your health
With the over 30+ apps that you can connect to Evidation, we’re able to look at patterns of activity levels and do a deep dive into tracking health and wellness. We’ve published research around how your social engagements can impact activity levels. Lastly, we’ve given our community a chance to learn from each other, asking communities of individuals what questions they have for one another and sharing back the results.
2. Learn about health and research through insights
With a community of over a million, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to highlight and share relevant research tailored to you. We’ve also done deep dives on seasonal trends over the last year, including a step analysis around the Pokemon Go phenomenon, the difference between men and women during Back to School, and a look across the United States at Halloween calorie count.
3. Participate in ground-breaking research to advance the health of everyone
We’re focused on building a product that makes your interactions with health unified. We believe that health is much more than a visit to the doctor. It’s a constant effort every day of how to track/monitor healthy activities — whether it be steps taken, heart rate monitored, sleep tracked, or even meditation sessions executed. Sign up for Evidation today and starting taking health-related actions, including contributing to cutting-edge clinical studies that are tailored to your specific health conditions.
Dads vs. Moms: How does the transition from summer to fall impact activity levels?
The change in seasons often brings with it a change in routine. We wanted to know how the transition from summer to fall affects our health and wellness, and we’re excited to share these insights from members.
The change in seasons often brings with it a change in routine. So we wanted to know how the transition from summer to fall affects our health and wellness, and we’re excited to share these insights from Evidation Members.
The transition to fall can be especially cumbersome for parents as they juggle back to school duties, but is one parent more impacted than the other by the changing season? We decided to take a closer look at how moms and dads health holds up during the seasonal transition. We were also curious to explore how sleep and steps between parents and non-parents compared.
Who is catching more zzzs?
We uncovered a statistically significant gender disparity between moms and dads. Moms sleep 5 minutes less in the summer than their non-mom counterparts. As the school year ramps up in late August and early September, the difference is significantly more pronounced on weekdays. Moms sleep 10 minutes less than their non-mom counterparts. Dads, on the other hand, show no consistent differences from their counterparts in summer or fall. If anything, they may sleep slightly more.
Moms are also taking a bigger hit in sleep interruption than Dads. Moms sleep 0.34% less than non-moms and 1.4% less than dads. Surprisingly though, non-dads have the most sleep interruptions, spending 8.3% of the night awake.
What time is everyone falling asleep?
Moms fall asleep 12 minutes earlier than non-moms, while dads fall asleep 24 minutes earlier than non-dads. So, while dads don’t seem to be sleeping any less if they are a parent, they appear to be shifting their sleep schedules more. Interestingly, all four groups shift their bedtimes earlier in fall, possibly due to earlier sunsets.
Who is taking more steps?
Moms take fewer steps than non-moms in general. During the summer, moms take 427 fewer steps/day on weekends and 243 fewer steps/day on weekdays. However, when the school year starts, their weekends show an even larger deficit, at 543 fewer steps/day vs non-moms. Their weekdays step counts improve markedly, though, at just 85 fewer steps/day than non-moms.
Dads show the opposite pattern. They actually take more steps than non-dads. In the summer, they have an average of 250 steps/day more than non-dads, while in the fall, they have an average of 348 steps/day more than non-dads.