Migraine Awareness Week Series: 5 Reasons Why You Have Migraine Problems

Health Pulse SG
Sep 6, 2018 · 4 min read

This Sunday marks the start of Migraine Awareness Week 2018. As an effort to highlight issues surrounding the disease, we at Health Pulse would like to share with you guys a series of informative articles on migraine- What causes it and how to better prevent it from reoccurring.

Migraine is a type of headache disorder that is common among adults and children. According to the National University Hospital of Singapore, migraine affects about 15% of the people in the world and 9.3% of Singaporean. It is usually caused by a combination of environmental or genetic factors. As of 2016, migraine is one of the most common causes of disability.

Let’s begin by having a look at some common causes of migraine:

#1 Stress

Whether you are a working adult or a student, I think we can all agree that everyone has their fair share of stress in their lives. The innate competitive culture in our society coupled with unrealistic expectations from parents & friends has turned our generation into a walking pressure cooker. Which is why we’re not surprised when studies have found that stress is the main precursor in 62 to 80 percent of migraine attacks.

#2 Polluted Household Environment

Each of us spent at least 10 hours in a household environment every day (Even longer for stay-home parents). For individuals with allergy problems, the quality of their household environment plays a huge role in affecting the sensitivity and severity of their conditions. According to Jonathan Field, the Director of Asthma and Clinic of the New York University, the triggering mechanism works something like this:

“When an allergic person is exposed to an allergen — dust, mold, pollen, animal hair, or skin — the sinuses become swollen. This swelling might cause migraines by triggering the nerves in the brain to react to the change in pressure. The nerves then send signals to the brain that trigger the various symptoms of migraine, like the headache, intolerance of light or sound, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness”

Hence, maintaining a hygienic household with clean air quality is crucial in avoiding recurring migraine attacks.

#3 Heavy Usage of Electronic Devices

The technology advancement in recent years and the rise of digital devices has greatly lengthen the time we spent on computer/smartphone. A research published on The Straits Times last year has reported that, an average Singaporean spends around 12 hours 42 mins daily on their digital devices, even children as young as 12 years old are spending approximately 6.5 hours on electronic devices every day. Incidentally, the report also highlighted the association between the frequency of migraine attacks and prolong usage of electronic devices.

#4 Smoking

Congratulations if you have migraine on your “Negative effects of smoking” Bingo because The European Journal of Neurology has found that the prevalence rates for headaches were higher among smokers & social smokers compared to none smokers. We know it is almost a cliche at this point to include smoking as the cause of any health-related issues. However, what we find interesting is that passive smokers and social smokers are exposed to the same risk faced by habitual smokers, regardless of their smoking habits.

#5 Hormonal Change

In many cases, a change in hormonal level in your body can cause migraine and headache. According to Mayo Clinics, the fluctuation of hormones like estrogen and progesterone is linked towards the severity of your condition. But you might already noticed that if you’re a women as both estrogen and progesterone play key a role in regulating the menstrual cycle and pregnancy.

Now that we’ve talked about the causes of migraine, we’ll go into some tips & tricks in avoiding migraine attacks in our next post. Stay tuned!

Health Pulse SG

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