Migraine: Causes and Triggers

Short: Migraine is a neurological condition with usually one-sided, pulsating headaches, often accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light or sound. Unlike ordinary headaches, it often significantly impairs those affected for hours to days.

In more detail: The exact mechanisms aren’t fully understood yet; changes in brain blood flow and inflammatory processes in the nervous system are suspected.

Note: Not a substitute for medical advice.

In detail

• Phases of a migraine attack: Many sufferers experience a prodrome phase, sometimes an aura with visual disturbances, the actual headache phase, and an exhaustion phase afterward.
• Hormonal triggers: Fluctuating estrogen levels explain why migraine in women is often linked to the menstrual cycle.
• Sleep deficit and excess: Both too little and unusually much sleep can trigger attacks in sensitive people.
• Food as a trigger: Certain foods like aged cheese, red wine, or food additives are identified as triggers by some sufferers, but don’t affect everyone the same way.
• Stress and relaxation: Paradoxically, both acute stress and the subsequent relaxation phase, such as on weekends, can trigger an attack.
• Weather influences: Some sufferers report connections between air pressure changes and the occurrence of attacks.
• Trigger diary: Systematically documenting triggers over several weeks helps identify individual patterns and prevent attacks in a targeted way (kopfschmerzen-arten-und-ursachen, stress-abbauen-und-entspannen).