Sunday, November 19th, 2017

Migraine Causes

Headaches are very common. Every person at some point in their life will have one. Since every one experiences pain differently, it is almost impossible to actually measue someone’s pain. Two people with the ‘same’ headache, may feel differently about the severity of it. But the question is, what causes a migraine?

Migraine headaches are a combination of blood vessel enlargement and a release of the chemical nerve fibers that coil around these vessels. During your headache, an artery enlarges that is found outside the skull just under the temporal artery. This will cause a release of chemicals causing inflammation, pain, and a further enlargement of this artery.

A migraine headache causes the sympathetic nervous system to respond with feeling of nausea, vomiting, and sometimes even diarrhea. This will often delay the emptying of the stomach into the small intestine, decrease your blood curculation and increase sensitivity to light and sound.

Many factors can trigger a migraine. Here are some:

  • Stress (physical or emotional)
  • Alcohol
  • Smoking or exposure to smoke
  • menstrual cycles fluctuations, birth control pills
  • tension headaches
  • skipping meals
  • changes in sleep patterns or irregular sleeping habits
  • exposure to loud noises, bright lights, or certain odors
  • Weather Changes
  • family history
  • motion sickness
  • cold stimulus (such as eating ice cream)
  • Head trauma
  • too much caffeine

So as you can see and from what you already know, many factors can contribute to triggering a migraine headache. The best way to avoid a migraine for someone who experiences them is to take precautions concerning what triggers the headaches. Some things we can not avoid but we can make a few changes in our lifestyle to prevent how it triggers our bodies.