How to Prevent Migraines and Headaches

Many foods, additives, and other nutritional components can cause migraines, but the triggers vary a lot from one person to another.

Here?s a list that covers the common ones.

Aged cheeses, sour cream, and certain other milk products.

Fresh yeast, sourdough, and other yeasty breads.

Fermented foods, including pickles, soy sauce and miso.

Some legumes, especially dried beans, lentils and soy products.

Nuts, seeds, and peanut butter.

Chocolate and cocoa.

Organ meats and meats that are salted, dries cured, smoked, or contain nitrites.

Sardines, anchovies, and pickled herring.

Fruits, including avocados, bananas, citrus fruits, figs, grapes, papayas, passion fruits, plantains, pineapples, raspberries, red plums, and raisins.

Alcohol, especially red wine.

Chicken livers.

Seasonings and flavor enhancers, especially artificial sweeteners, ginger, and molasses.

Sulfites used as preservatives in wine and dried fruits.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Each year 70 percent of adults in North America alone seek medical help. Most headaches are brief and happen because of tension or a temporary condition, like a cold or the flu, but some reflect a serious problem.

When you see your doctor about your headaches b sure to bring a detailed written description of your headaches. To make it detailed make sure you cover some of these questions. How severe are they? How often? How long? Which areas hurt?

Migraine Headaches

More than 20 million North Americans suffer from migraines. Migraines are severe throbbing or pulsating feeling that occurs on one side of your head. They?re often accompanied by sensitivities from light and sound, as well as with nausea and vomiting.

Migraines are also called vascular headaches, because they typically involve a spasm of the arteries in your head, which results in a pulsating pain. The headaches may last from a few hours to several days or even longer.

Most importantly migraines affect women about three times more often as men. They usually start between the ages of 18 and 44. Many doctors think migraines are triggered from different factors such as dietary, hormonal, environmental, emotional, and other factors that cause your blood vessels in your brain to constrict and then relax. These distorted blood vessels quickly cause the nerve endings to send out pain signals.

A good way to get rid of migraines is to try relaxation techniques. In addition to taking different courses or classes in using relaxation techniques you can also try biofeedback. Biofeedback is a course in which you learn how to raise the temperature in your hands to divert some of the blood flow from your head to another part of your body.

Migraine Triggers

Environmental Triggers: Glare, bright lights, loud noises, strong odors, cigarette smoke changes in temperature, weather or altitude.

Hormonal Triggers (usually women): Menstrual cycle, estrogen supplements, and high-estrogen oral contraceptives.

Activity Triggers: Irregular or no exercise, inadequate or excessive sleep, eyestrain, motion sickness.

Emotional Triggers: (tend to be negative ones): Anger, resentment, depression, fatigue, anxiety, and stress.

Dietary Triggers: Keep a food diary and see what you?ve eaten. Once you feel a migraine come on, you?ll be able to track and see what food has caused it.