It is possible to improve headache control by removing aggravating factors in our lifestyles. The overall objective is to make live as smooth and predictable as possible. Several factors are particularly noteworthy:

- STRESS - Good luck trying to avoid all stress in the 20^th century but we can at least try to reduce it's influence on headache. Stress from confrontation is a commonly described example of stress producing acute headache response. Not all stress produces headache and not all headaches are due to stress, obviously. Sometimes chronic long term stress can produce headaches over the long run. The prime example is people with unsatisfactory jobs or difficult interpersonal relationships.

- SLEEP SCHEDULE - Waking and sleeping times can be critical. Sleep deprivation is a common headache trigger and so is oversleeping. To make it more complicated. Many people with poorly controlled headache disorders have a lot of trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.

- MEALTIMES - The actual content of a meal has been discussed elsewhere, here we are concerned about the regularity of meals. Skipped meals or irregular eating schedules can sometimes make headaches more likely to occur. The concept of hypoglycemia has been beaten to death in the past twenty years but there are times when glucose loading or missed meals will produce a relative drop in blood sugar levels and a headache can develop

- HABITS - Smoking cigarettes or being with smokers can increase your chance for a headache. Although cessation of smoking is not a guarantee that headaches will stop, it will be easier to get the headaches under control without the additional trigger of the smoke, the impurities and the carbon monoxide levels found in the blood of all smokers. Drinking alcohol is another habit that can adversely affect the headaches in several ways. Alcohol itself can be a trigger and the excess use can produce the classical "morning after" headaches but you must also consider that it may interfere with the proper absorption of headache preventative medications. It can be very dangerous.

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© Edmund Messina MD 2002