Giving piece of mind: Does Obesity Cause Migraine?
By Nmami Agarwal 22-Jun 2021 Reading Time: 4 Mins
The prevalence of obesity has substantially increased in recent years with more than 42% of the entire population. Weight gain and obesity are also some of the leading risk factors for disease and death worldwide, and significantly contribute to increased risks of various problems. One such issue is Migraine. So, a person being overweight may increase the risk of suffering from migraines.
Migraine is a neurological condition in which people may suffer recurrent headaches that typically affect one half of the head and are pulsating in nature, often accompanied with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.
Migraine, whether episodic or chronic, is linked with obesity. As obesity is a well-known cause of inflammation, and the trigeminal system is central to mediating migraine headaches. The potent risk of migraine increases with increasing obesity status from normal weight to overweight to obese. People dealing with obesity are 81 per cent more likely to have episodic migraines as compared to those of normal weight. Episodic migraines, described as 14 or fewer migraine headaches per month, are more common than chronic migraines which occur at least 15 days per month. Additionally, obesity increases the risk of someone with an episodic pattern of headaches transforming to a chronic pattern.
What should you do?
So, what should people who experience migraines who are overweight or obese do if they believe their weight might be contributing to their migraines? Understanding healthy lifestyle, particularly in terms of promoting healthy weight, as well as in the consideration of appropriate diet and exercise routines, may be important tools in the management of migraine headaches.
- Firstly, do your best to identify what triggers your migraines then modify your behaviour and environment as best you can and find coping strategies to reduce the number and severity of your migraines.
- Secondly, execute strategic daily practices to achieve your body composition goal.
- Thirdly, focus on incorporating one new healthy daily practice into your routine at a time
Staying at a healthy weight and being fit may be the best way to beat migraine. Shedding down the weight to an optimal figure can significantly improve your quality of life, and the prospect of it helping your migraines is a welcome added bonus. To be precise, if an individual is suffering from migraine headaches and is on the obese side, losing weight will ameliorate the quality of family and social life. Hence, overall quality of life will greatly improve.
Over to you:
Obesity is certainly a modifiable risk factor for migraine patients and should be aware of this association. Thus, patients dealing with migraine should be encouraged to maintain a healthy weight, to exercise regularly, and to consume a healthy diet.