With today marking the kickoff of National Headache Awareness Week and continuing through June 13th, we wanted to provide you with a list of tips for headache sufferers from The National Headache Foundation. The Seven Healthy Habits of Headache Sufferers was created to help those suffering from frequent headaches and/or migraines.
The following tips can be easily incorporated in sufferers’ lives:
Diet: Eat regular meals, avoiding foods and drinks that are known to trigger attacks. Not all headache sufferers experience food triggers; however, it is possible that a migraine can occur up to 48 hours after eating a trigger food so it is important to pay attention to what you eat.
Sleep: Maintain a regular sleeping schedule, including weekends and vacations.
Stress: Implement stress reduction techniques into your daily life. Even though there is some controversy about whether stress alone is a migraine trigger, stress is a factor in tension-type headaches, which can trigger Migraines, and stress does make migraine sufferers more susceptible to their triggers.
Headache and Migraine diary: Keep a headache and Migraine diary of when your attacks occur, along with any triggers, and share the information with your healthcare provider.
See your healthcare provider: Make an appointment with your healthcare provider to specifically discuss your headaches and / or Migraines.
Be a partner in your health care: Be informed, be a participant in your treatment and be an advocate for your care.
Education: Stay appraised of the latest headache and Migraine news and treatment.
Did you know there are 8 different types of headaches? Rebound, Sinus, Organic, Tension-Type, Migraine, Cluster, and Hormone Headaches comprise the 8 different types.
It’s important to understand what type of headache you are experiencing in order to alleviate your pain efficiently. The find out more information on the different types of headaches please visit the National Headache Foundation at http://www.headaches.org.