What are migraine triggers?
A migraine trigger is any environmental or physiological factor that leads to a headache in individuals who are prone to develop headaches. Only a small proportion of migraine sufferers, however, clearly can identify triggers. Examples of triggers include: • stress, • sleep disturbances, • fasting, • hormones, • bright or flickering lights, • odors, • cigarette smoke, • alcohol, • aged cheeses, • chocolate, • monosodium glutamate, • nitrites, • aspartame, and • caffeine. For some women, the decline in the blood level of estrogen during the onset of menstruation is a trigger for migraine headaches (sometimes referred to as menstrual migraines). The interval between exposure to a trigger and the onset of headache varies from hours to two days. Exposure to a trigger does not always lead to a headache. Conversely, avoidance of triggers cannot completely prevent headaches. Different migraine sufferers respond to different triggers, and any one trigger will not induce a headache in every per
