Exercising 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 analyzed the amount of effort made weekly by patients diagnosed with migraines.
They found that exercise exceeds the threshold of two and a half hours – the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) – reduced migraines trigger, such as anxiety and poor quality sleep.
They found that in their sample of over 4,500 adults with migraines, 73% received less than two and a half hours a week.
Migraine is a common health condition that affects 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.
“Migraine is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people in the United States, 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 painkillers called endorphins, helps people sleep better and reduces stress.
“But if people with migraines don’t exercise, they may not benefit from these benefits.”
When most of us hear the word “migraine”, we tend to think of a very severe headache.
One patient in the UK described a migraine as “a throbbing, strong pain, so intense that you would do anything to stop it”.
But headaches are just a symptom of migraines and can vary in severity and length, according to another expert.
“Migraines are a neurological disease that involves nerve pathways and chemicals,” said Brandeis Brockman, a nurse at Delancey Internal Medicine in the United States who was not involved in the study.
According to Dr. Dyess, headache is an umbrella term that includes migraines.
Dr Dyess and his team have specifically looked at three causes or “triggers” of migraine that are listed on the NHS website – depression, anxiety and sleep problems.
The study involved 4,647 people, all of whom were diagnosed with migraines, but with varying degrees of severity.
About three-quarters had “chronic” migraines, meaning they had 15 or more migraines a month. The others had “episodic” migraines – up to 14 a month.
Participants completed a questionnaire about the characteristics of migraine, sleep, depression, stress, anxiety and the amount of “moderate to vigorous” exercises they did each week.
Types of exercise that were described as “moderate to vigorous” included jogging, brisk walking, playing a sport, cycling, and even “intense cleaning.”
The researchers divided the participants into five groups based on the level of moderate to vigorous weekly exercises – 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 halves. hour.
They found that 1,270 people (27%) of the total people in the study reported doing the most exercise (more than two and a half hours a week).
In addition, people who exercised less than two and a half hours of moderate to intense exercise per week had high rates of the three triggers – depression, anxiety and sleep problems.
Depression was reported by 47% of people in the group who did not exercise, or 377 of 806 people, compared with 25% of people in the group who exercised the most, or 318 of 1,270 people.
In addition, anxiety was reported by 39% of people in the non-exercise group, compared with 28% of people in the high-exercise group.
Finally, sleep problems were reported by 77% of people in the non-exercise group, compared with 61% in the high-exercise group.
People who exercised less than two and a half hours of moderate to intense exercise per week had high rates of the three triggers – depression, anxiety and sleep problems (stock image)
“Our analysis suggests that the level of exercise below the level recommended by the WHO is correlated with an increased rate of depression, anxiety and sleep problems,” the experts report.
Researchers have also found an association between exercise and the risk of migraines or any other type of headache.
Of the non-exercisers in the group, 5% had a low frequency of headache, defined as zero to four days of headache per month, and 48% had a high frequency of headache, defined as having 25 or more days of headache. headache per month.
Of the people in the high-exercise group who exercised for more than two and a half hours a week, 10% had a low headache frequency and 28% had a high headache frequency.
Although there are some medications for migraines, including some types of sleeping pills, exercise may be the cheapest treatment available.
“There are new therapies available for migraine, but they are very expensive,” said Dr. Dyess, who will present his findings at the 73rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, which takes place in practice between 17-22 April.
People with migraines should consider incorporating more exercise into their daily lives, as it can be a safe and low-cost way to manage and minimize some of the other problems that often accompany migraines.
According to the NHS, physical triggers, such as poor posture and intense exercise, if you are not used to it, can cause migraines.
Dietary triggers include missed, delayed or irregular meals, dehydration, alcohol, caffeine and foods containing tyramine.
Tyramine is found in sausages, yeast extracts, pickled herring, smoked fish and certain cheeses, such as cheddar, stilton and camembert.