Natural ways to prevent migraines - how effective are they?

Before a consideration of natural ways to prevent migraines, let’s consider a number of relevant facts relating to this distressing condition.

Migraines are unlike typical headaches as they are often characterised by a severe throbbing pain on both sides of the head, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, fatigue, and extreme sensitivity to light, noise or smells. Additionally, migraines may be preceded by visual disturbances such as flashing lights, wavy lines or blind spots.

How common is experiencing migraine symptoms?

This is indeed a huge problem – statistics show that over 10% of the world’s population suffers from migraine which amounts to in excess of one billion individuals.

Remarkably, migraine is more common globally than diabetes, coronary disease and asthma combined.

Managing migraine symptoms – Big Pharma to the rescue!

As you can imagine given the global prevalence of migraine, the altruistic guys at the pharmaceutical companies are positively falling over themselves to come up with a vast array of chemical “solutions” to the problem.

Would it be cynical of me to suggest that the money involved in this particular market could be their underlying motivation?

Let’s consider the figures involved:

According to Market Data Forecast the global migraine drugs market size was valued at $4.44 billion in 2022 and is projected to value $5.9 by 2028.

These staggering figures fully demonstrate the size of the migraine medication market.

There are a vast array of potentially dangerous side effects of migraine medications being used to “treat” these severe headaches – surely we should be looking for natural means to avoid poisoning ourselves with these toxic chemicals?

Surely the answer – prevention clearly being better than cure – is to find natural and effective ways to prevent migraines.

To increase the probability of achieving this, we need to consider what triggers them in the first place. The saying “prevention is better than cure” is particularly relevant with regard to migraines.

Effective and natural ways to prevent migraines

Simple and effective natural ways to prevent migraines include the following:

Avoiding “trigger” foods

Diet, as with all disorders, is a crucial factor – in this situation because it may “trigger” the condition. Known triggers include:

● Foods containing nitrates

● Chocolate

● Aged cheeses containing tyramine – examples of these include blue, cheddar, feta and Parmesan

● Alcohol – particularly red wine

● Foods containing monosodium glutamate (MSG)

● Very cold foods or drink

● Processed foods

● Pickled foods

● Beans

● Dried fruits

If you suffer from migraines, to determine which particular food or beverage are “triggers” for you, keep a daily food journal and record all that you eat and how you felt afterwards.

Increasing dietary intake of magnesium

There has been established a link between magnesium deficiency and the onset of migraines. Magnesium may be found naturally in the following natural foods:

● Almonds

● Sesame seeds

● Sunflower seeds

● Brazil nuts

● Cashews

● Oatmeal

Maintaining hydration

The American Migraine Foundation has reported that approximately a third of people with migraine state that dehydration was a migraine trigger.

To maintain appropriate bodily hydration, see our article on this topic.

Getting good quality sleep

Research has established a correlation between poor quality sleep and insomnia and the onset and frequency of migraine attacks.

For achieving good sleep hygiene be sure to check out my article on insomnia.

Stress management

It has been reported by the American Headache Society that a staggering 80% of migraine sufferers believe that stress is a significant trigger of migraine attacks.

As a preventive measure it is imperative to initiate and maintain stress management techniques which may include:

● Deep breathing exercises

● Visualisation and mental imagery exercises

● Listening to relaxing music

● Meditation

● Counselling or therapies (such as cognitive behaviour therapy)

● Improving time management

● Setting aside time for pleasurable activities

Clearly a pattern is developing here – once again preventive measures relating to a disorder include good nutrition, good hydration, quality sleep and stress management.

As a migraine sufferer try any number of these measures in combination to see what works for you. These, as do all health promoting measures, will take a lot of commitment and self-discipline however it has to be worth it to avoid these painful debilitating episodes without recourse to potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals.

Please feel free to leave a comment on this article and please share this with anyone you know who may be interested.