Exercising for just two and a half hours a week can reduce your risk of migraines, a new study suggests.
Researchers at a headache clinic at the University of Washington looked at the amount of exercise per week achieved by patients diagnosed with migraines.
They found that exercising above the two-and-a-half-hour threshold – the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) – reduced migraine triggers, such as anxiety and poor-quality sleep.
In their sample of more than 4,500 adults with migraines, 73 percent got less than two and a half hours a week, they found.
Migraines are a common health condition, affecting about one in five women and about one in 15 men, according to the NHS.
Regular exercise can be an effective way to reduce the frequency and intensity of a migraine, which causes intense, throbbing pain that
“Migraines are a disabling condition that affects millions of people in the US, and yet regular exercise can be an effective way to reduce frequency and intensity,” said study author Dr. Mason Dyess of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Exercise releases natural pain relievers called endorphins helps people sleep better and reduces stress.
“But if people with migraines don’t exercise, they may not reap these benefits.”
When most of us hear the word ‘migraine’ we often think of very severe headaches.
One sufferer in the UK described a migraine as a ‘throbbing, throbbing pain so intense you would do anything to make it stop’.
But headaches are just one symptom of migraines and can vary in severity and length, according to another expert.
“Migraine is a neurological condition involving nerve pathways and chemicals,” said Brandeis Brockman, a nurse practitioner at Delancey Internal Medicine in the US, who was not involved in this study.
According to Dr. Dyess, headache is an umbrella term that includes migraines.
Dr. Dyess and his team specifically looked at three causes or ‘triggers’ of migraines listed on the NHS website: depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping.
The study involved 4,647 people, all of whom had been diagnosed with migraines, but with varying levels of severity.
About three-quarters had ‘chronic’ migraines, meaning they had 15 or more migraines per month. The others had ‘episodic’ migraines – up to 14 per month.
The participants completed a questionnaire about their migraine characteristics, sleep, depression, stress, anxiety, and the amount of ‘moderate to vigorous’ exercise they got each week.
Types of exercise classified as ‘moderate to vigorous’ included jogging, very brisk walking, sports, cycling, and even ‘heavy cleaning’.
Researchers divided the participants into five groups based on the level of moderate to vigorous weekly exercise – zero minutes, one to 30 minutes, 31 to 90 minutes, 91 minutes to two and a half hours, and more than two and a half hours. Half hours.
They found that 1,270 people (27 percent) of all people in the study reported getting the most physical activity (more than two and a half hours per week).
In addition, people who got less than two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous exercise per week had increased rates of the three triggers: depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping.
Depression was reported by 47 percent of the people in the group who did not exercise, or 377 of the 806 people, compared to 25 percent of the people in the group who exercised the most, or 318 of the 1,270 people.
Additionally, anxiety was reported by 39 percent of people in the no-exercise group, compared to 28 percent of people in the high-exercise group.
Finally, sleep problems were reported by 77 percent of people in the no-exercise group, compared to 61 percent in the high-exercise group.
People who got less than two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous exercise per week had increased rates of the three triggers: depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping (stock image)
“Our analysis suggests that exercise levels below WHO recommended levels are correlated with increased likelihood of depression, anxiety and sleep problems,” the experts report.
Researchers also found a link between exercise and the risk of migraines or other headaches.
Of the people in the no exercise group, 5 percent had a low headache frequency, defined as zero to four headache days per month, and 48 percent had a high headache frequency, defined as 25 or more headache days per month.
Of the people in the high-exercise group who exercised for more than two and a half hours per week, 10 percent had a low headache frequency and 28 percent had a high headache frequency.
While there are some migraine medications, including some types of sleeping pills, exercise may be the cheapest treatment available.
“New therapies are available for migraines, but they are very expensive,” said Dr. Dyess, who will present his findings at the 73rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, held virtually April 17-22.
“People with migraines should consider incorporating more exercise into their daily lives as it can be a safe and inexpensive way to manage and minimize some of the other problems often associated with migraines.”
According to the NHS, physical triggers such as poor posture and strenuous exercise if you are not used to them can also all cause migraines.
Diet triggers include missed, delayed or irregular meals, dehydration, alcohol, caffeine, and foods containing tyramine.
Tyramine is found in cured meats, yeast extracts, pickled herring, smoked fish and certain cheeses such as cheddar, stilton, and camembert.