If you suffer with headaches or migraines, you know how frustrating it is to have the pain hit and interrupt your work, vacation, or taking care of your family. While effective treatments exist for almost all types of headaches and migraines, they can vary in the amount of time they take to create relief. The more you can prevent the headaches and migraines from occurring in the first place the better.
These healthy habits won’t eliminate headaches for everyone, but most people who integrate them notice steady progress.
Change Up Your Drinks
Caffeine can help relieve some headaches and migraines but continued, regular consumption can increase the amount of headaches you have. And, you can even experience caffeine withdrawal headaches if you don’t get your daily fix. Taper caffeine intake and substitute herbal tea and infused (non-sweetened) water in place of caffeinated drinks.
Sleep Time
The quality and quantity of your sleep has a huge impact on your overall health and wellbeing. Make sleep a priority and establish a bedtime routine. Nothing will have a bigger impact on your long term health.
Take Care of Yourself
You know you should take care of yourself first. After all, how many times have you heard people use the metaphor ‘put the oxygen mask on yourself first’ in an emergency situation before helping your child on a plane? This can be difficult for anyone, and even more difficult if you suffer from an ‘invisible illness’ like migraines. If you are going through a lot, having an outlet like a professional therapist can be a huge help.
Breathing and Mindfulness
Just five minutes of mindful breathing can decrease stress and improve your concentration. Over time this can lead to decreased headaches. There are many apps out there that can help you learn mindfulness techniques. Yoga is also a great practice that can help you manage stress and increase flexibility. All of this is helpful for tackling headaches.
Exercise
Regular exercise can reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches and migraines. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which are your body’s natural painkillers. Exercise reduces stress and helps you to sleep at night. Some people get headaches or migraines when they exercise. One possible reason for this is the physical reaction to the elevation of blood pressure. This is not a reason to avoid exercise though. Instead, incorporate a 10-15 minute warm up, which will help your body prepare for more vigorous exercise and can help prevent headaches associated with exercise.
Foods
It is especially important to eat three square meals a day with perhaps some healthy snacks. Keep processed food to a minimum, and focus on whole foods with few additives. Certain foods are also linked to giving you a headache. Here are a list of foods that may cause or worsen headaches or migraines in some people.
- Alcohol, specifically red wine
- Aspartame sweetener
- Beans and other tyramine-containing foods
- Caffeine (often found in foods, beverages, and medicines)
- Cheeses and yogurt
- Processed meats (containing sulfites like bacon, sausages, salami, ham)
This man 100% has a headache.
Come See Us
When you invest time and energy into incorporating these healthy habits, your payoff will be fewer headache and migraine days. This means more time with family, a better time at work, and enjoying vacation without headaches and migraines cramping your style. Start with one habit at a time and you’ll notice big differences as the weeks go by. If you think your headache is due to an injury or a physical issue that you have, come in and see us at the office and we can help you get on your way to fewer headaches.
