Migraine Self-Care Guide

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People living with migraines know they can be completely debilitating, disrupting your daily activities and preventing you from joining in activities you otherwise enjoy. Whether they start gradually or quickly, it’s important to know about migraine tricks and techniques that relieve you as soon as possible. Learning things that help with migraines may also help prevent future flare-ups or reduce their frequency.

Keep reading to learn about common triggers to look out for, as well as tips for migraines to help them pass as quickly as possible. This migraine self-care guide offers you a wide array of techniques to try so you can find what works best for you.

Common Migraine Triggers

The most effective way to begin migraine self-care techniques is to identify the triggers for your symptoms. Migraine triggers vary from person to person, so understanding what causes your symptoms not only helps you treat it, but also helps you to start thinking about how to avoid migraine triggers in the first place. By identifying and avoiding your personal triggers, you could significantly reduce the frequency and severity of your migraines to improve your overall quality of life.

It's also important to understand the difference between a severe headache vs migraine because the triggers and best management methods aren’t necessarily the same. A migraine is usually more intense and has symptoms like nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, or vision complications. Conversely, headaches typically cause a less severe, localized pain.

Some common triggers to take note of for developing your migraine self-care routine are:

  • Certain foods and drinks (especially processed foods or sugary foods)
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Hormonal changes
  • Sleep deprivation
  • Bright lights or loud noises
  • Changes in the weather
  • Dehydration or alcohol consumption
  • Physical exhaustion

Learning to recognize and manage these triggers is the first step towards learning migraine tricks to keep your feeling your best. You could also keep a migraine diary to help you determine which of these triggers affect you the most.

Migraine Self-Care Tips and Techniques

When you start feeling a migraine coming on, there’s often little time to prepare. Having a treatment plan of things that help with migraines is a great way to mitigate some of the pain and allow it to pass as quickly as possible. This is especially true if you're in need of chronic migraine treatment. Some of these migraine tricks may help prevent as many future occurrences as possible.

Some migraine self-care methods for you to try are:

  1. Tracking your migraine symptoms
  2. Staying hydrated to avoid migraine pain
  3. Avoiding alcohol to stop migraines
  4. Exercising to prevent Migraines
  5. Relaxing to avoid migraine triggers
  6. Limiting screen time for migraine relief
  7. Eating things that help with migraines
  8. Reducing exposure to lights and noises for migraine pain
  9. Getting enough sleep to help prevent migraines

1. Tracking Your Migraine Symptoms

Keeping a migraine journal to record each occurrence and your symptoms is one of the best tips for migraine self-care. Record the frequency, duration, and intensity of each of your migraines. Making a note of what triggered your symptoms is another of the most helpful things that help with migraines now and in the future.

If you experience migraines regularly, a record of your experiences and triggers can also be helpful for your doctor. They’ll be able to assess the situation and help you with a management plan.

2. Staying Hydrated to Avoid Migraine Pain

As you’ve learned, dehydration is a common migraine trigger that is easy to circumvent. Make sure you drink enough water throughout the day as part of your migraine self-care plan. If you’re not a huge fan of regular water, there are creative ways to increase your water intake through other beverages like herbal tea or decaffeinated coffee.

You also need to drink more water if you’re physically active. Whether playing sports or just exercising, sweating causes you to lose hydration. If you’re still struggling to drink enough water, consider some of the water bottles available with labels on how much water to drink by different times of the day.

3. Avoiding Alcohol to Stop Migraines

Another of the most common migraine triggers is alcohol consumption. Limiting or completely avoiding alcohol as part of your migraine self-care plan may help lessen the frequency or duration of migraines you experience.

If you do choose to consume alcohol, make sure you do so in moderation and monitor how your body is responding to it. Alcohol also leads to dehydration, so make sure you’re drinking water between alcoholic beverages, as well.

4. Exercising to Prevent Migraines

Even though physical exhaustion and overexertion can be potential triggers, moderate exercise can also be part of an effective migraine self-care strategy. Exercise releases endorphins, which are natural pain relievers, and can help reduce stress levels.

For optimal health, try to get 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five days each week. Low-impact exercises like walking, swimming, and yoga are helpful migraine tricks to keep active and improve symptoms (or prevent future migraines). Make sure you’ve got a post workout recovery plan like stretching, heat therapy, or using a zero gravity chair to help your muscles recover without seizing up.

5. Relaxing to Avoid Migraine Triggers

Stress is a major trigger for many people living with migraines. Adding relaxation techniques to your migraine self-care routine helps your mind and body against migraine pain. Practices like calming breathing exercises, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation are all beneficial.

You can also turn to things that help with migraines like zero gravity chairs. These recliners are designed to recline into the zero gravity position, in which your legs are elevated above the heart level and weight is distributed evenly along your body. This serves as the catalyst for the mental and physical benefits of zero gravity chairs like faster bodily healing, better blood circulation, and stress relief.

6. Limiting Screen Time for Migraine Relief

Next on our list of tips for migraines is limiting screen time. We spend more time looking at screens than we realize. Between cell phones, laptops, tablets, and other devices, we spend an average of about seven hours in front of screens daily1.

To help mitigate the risks of developing a migraine because of screen exposure, consider using blue light blocking glasses or the 20-20-20 rule in which every 20 minutes you take a 20-second break and look at something at least 20 feet away. Consider adjusting the brightness and contrast of your screens plus following ergonomic tips like being in well-lit spaces as part of your migraine self-care plan.

7. Eating Things That Help With Migraines

Just like staying hydrated is vital to migraine self-care, so is watching what you eat. Certain foods, like processed foods, aged cheeses, and sugary foods, can trigger migraines. Instead, eat a diet that’s rich in magnesium-heavy foods like spinach, nuts, and seeds. Other foods that work as migraine tricks are eggs, fish, whole grains, and certain dairy products. 

8. Reducing Exposure to Lights and Noises for Migraine Pain

Bright lights and loud noises are also common migraine triggers. Reducing your exposure to these kinds of stimuli can help prevent migraines or lessen pain from one you’re already experiencing.

Wearing sunglasses or putting up light-filtering curtains can minimize bright light exposure. Using earplugs or noise-canceling headphones can help reduce the impact of loud noises, especially at concerts, clubs, or other noisy venues.

9. Getting Enough Sleep to Help Prevent Migraines

Last but not least, on our list of tips for migraines is getting enough sleep. Similar to adding relaxation to your migraine self-care routine, getting more restorative sleep can’t be overvalued as irregular sleep patterns and sleep deprivation can trigger migraines. Aim for seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night to let your body rest.

Create a sleep-friendly environment by making your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool. Choosing a comfortable mattress and pillows helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep throughout the night. For people who struggle to sleep on traditional mattresses only, you can supplement this with naps on a zero gravity chair. While they’re not meant for sleeping on each night, supplementing your sleep routine with the zero gravity sleep position for naps may help with migraine self-care now and prevent occurrences in the future.

Put These Migraine Tricks Into Action

Migraine self-care practices help you take control of your health and improve your overall well-being. By making simple lifestyle adjustments to your daily routine and environment, you could reduce the frequency and intensity of your migraines. How each person responds will vary, so try the methods in this guide to see which migraine tricks work best for you. If symptoms persist, contact your doctor for professional medical advice.

Disclaimer: This content is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare professional when considering implementing changes to your health or workout routines to ensure it’s compatible with your needs.

Additional Sources

  1. https://whatsthebigdata.com/average-screen-time-stats/
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