How to Reduce Inflammation: A Practical Guide for People With Migraine

How to Reduce Inflammation: A Practical Guide for People With Migraine

Migraine is a lifelong disorder that affects the brain and nervous system. It’s often associated with moderate-to-severe head pain and other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine is common, affecting 40 million people in the United States and 1 billion people globally. We don’t completely understand what causes migraine; however, inflammation is thought to play a key role — both on migraine and migraine-free days.

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury or infection, like a built-in alarm system. When your body detects a threat, like a scraped knee, it sends extra blood and immune cells to the area to help heal and protect it. You might notice redness, warmth, swelling, or pain around the scrape as your body works to fix it.

Inflammation also works at the system level, meaning this same process can affect multiple organs and areas of the body at once. When inflammation stays “on” at the system level for too long, it can cause health problems. Ongoing inflammation can quietly harm tissues and organs; it can up your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease — and make conditions like migraine worse.

Where does inflammation come from? In addition to being a healthy response to infections and injuries, inflammation can be the body’s response to threats in our environment. Poor air quality, food, tobacco, stress, and disruptions to sleep (to name some) all can contribute to inflammation.
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Taking a Holistic Approach

Effective migraine care calls for a holistic approach. This type of approach often includes a combination of medications and lifestyle changes to help reduce inflammation and thus decrease migraine symptoms. In other words, migraine treatment should focus on your whole person: mind, body, and spirit. Let’s look at a variety of changes you can try as you imagine your own holistic approach to migraine care.

Eat the Rainbow

The typical U.S. diet has been linked to high levels of inflammation due to its high proportions of rich, processed foods. Consider all the sugar, salt, and fat in many of the fast and packaged food options available near you. While “fast” often means unhealthy, healthy food choices don’t always have to take a long time or feel overly complicated.
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Simple diet swaps can go a long way in reducing inflammation. For starters, aim to switch one highly processed food or packaged food (like mac and cheese) with a whole food option (like a sweet potato) per day. Highly processed foods tend to be ones that come in a box or fast-food container. Whole foods are ones that come from the earth.

Over time, the goal is to add more and more whole foods. Eventually, you’ll have a beautiful, colorful plate! The more you can make your plate look like a rainbow using whole foods, the healthier your diet is likely to be. Example: Berries, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, and purple cabbage can all help to reduce inflammation through something called phytonutrients, or natural chemicals that give plants their bright colors.
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This simple game — who can make the most colorful plate — is a low-stress way to achieve an anti-inflammatory diet. Just remember — colors only count if they come from nature, not artificial food dyes.

Pro tip: A true anti-inflammatory diet will include about five servings of fruits and veggies per day; and a serving equals about the size of a tennis ball. Including fiber within the diet is also key. While many fruits and vegetables are high in fiber, whole grains can help to meet the recommended amount of daily fiber. Most adults need about two tennis ball servings of whole grains per day.
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Choose Good Fats

Not all fats are created equal. Some can contribute to inflammation, overweight, and obesity, while others can help you stave off inflammation. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are involved in the regulation of pain and inflammation, in different ways. For many people living in the U.S., daily consumption of fat includes more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids.
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Omega-6 fatty acids — which can be found in deep-fried foods and red meats — are considered “pro-inflammatory,” meaning they increase inflammation by prompting the immune response. While some red meat in moderation can add nutrients like B vitamins and protein to your diet, most Americans eat excess amounts of it. Nutrition experts tend to suggest limiting your intake to once or twice a month.

In contrast, omega-3 fatty acids — which can be found in olive oil, salmon, walnuts, and avocados — reduce inflammation and should be prioritized when meal planning.

Think in terms of easy swaps here too: Replace one food that’s high in omega-6s with a choice that’s high in omega-3s each day. The switch doesn’t have to be complicated. Reach for olive oil instead of corn oil, canola oil, or lard. Choose a wild-caught fatty fish for dinner one night of the week instead of steak. (Salmon, mackerel, trout, anchovies, and sardines are all rich in omega-3s.)

Pro tip: Snack on flavored nuts instead of chips. If you’re a meat lover, choose grass-fed beef instead of grain-fed beef.

Ask About Inflammation-Lowering Supplements

Most nutrition should come from healthy food sources that are part of our regular diets. There are certain supplements, however, that may help to reduce migraine frequency and severity and can be used alongside an anti-inflammatory diet. When beginning a supplement, it is important to check with your clinician, like a trusted family nurse practitioner. They can ensure there are no risky interactions with your other meds or health conditions.

Magnesium

Magnesium is one commonly used supplement in migraine treatment. Magnesium comes in a variety of forms, and evidence suggests it can help to reduce both the frequency and pain level of migraine. It might help with sleep, memory, and overall brain health as well. Magnesium comes in many forms and brands; the best choice for you will be the one made in partnership with your clinician, based on your health history, goals, and the potential side effects.
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Curcumin

Curcumin is another supplement associated with promising outcomes in the treatment of migraine. Curcumin is the main active compound (natural chemical) found in the popular spice turmeric. In fact, it’s what gives turmeric its bright yellow color. Curcumin has a long history of use as an anti-inflammatory treatment with few known side effects. While this is a promising treatment, ongoing research is needed to better understand the gut-brain link in people with migraine who take curcumin.
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Try a Probiotic

While more research is needed on the connections between gut health and migraine, there are studies that have looked at the role of pre- and probiotics in the treatment of migraine. These studies suggest taking probiotics can support better gut health, which may reduce migraine frequency over time. 
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For many people living with migraine, diet and gut health play a key role, says Jinbing Bai, PhD, MSN, a nurse and gut microbiome researcher at Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in Atlanta. Notes Dr. Bai: “The gut microbiome, or the collection of natural bacteria found in our digestive system, can influence migraine symptoms through something called the gut-brain axis.”

“When the collection of bacteria in the gut changes, there can be an overgrowth of bad bacteria that contribute to inflammation and can make migraines worse,” he explains.

Pro tip: Fermented foods with added probiotics are a popular choice for reducing inflammation. However, fermented foods with higher levels of the chemical tyramine can prompt migraine headaches; so, focusing on food sources such as kefir and yogurt or taking a probiotic supplement could be most helpful to people living with migraine.

Build Anti-Inflammatory Habits

Many day-to-day habits directly contribute to inflammation, while others can reduce inflammation and migraine frequency. It takes time, trial, and error to change even one habit, so be patient with yourself. Like with food, think in terms of simple swaps when possible, and focus on one habit at a time.

In my case, I’ve gradually replaced soda with filtered soda water that I flavor with berries, lemon, or cucumbers.

What swaps make sense for you? First, it is important to identify which of your habits might be contributing to inflammation — and whether you might be open to slowing or stopping them. Known pro-inflammatory (inflammation-causing) habits include:

  • Eating large quantities of red meat: Reduce and/or swap with lean proteins like turkey, tofu, or fish.
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  • Reaching for sodas: Choose water, seltzer, tea, or watered-down fruit juices in moderation.
  • Overeating refined grains like white breads, sweets: Opt for whole grains like brown rice, barley, quinoa, etc. instead.
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  • Sitting most of the day: Build activity into your day, such as by taking the stairs instead of the elevator; walking instead of driving when safe and possible.
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Other pro-inflammatory habits include smoking, vaping, and drinking alcohol. These habits don’t come with “easy swaps,” and only you can decide when you’re ready to cut back or quit. When the time comes, there are resources, support groups, and people who can help.

Find Your Favorite Stress Buster

Stress directly contributes to inflammation. Many day-to-day activities can increase stress and thus raise inflammation. Stopping all the stress of life would have its perks but isn’t possible. Instead, finding helpful ways to control stress can reduce inflammation levels and ease migraine symptoms.

Stress busters are not one-size-fits-all. What works for you will depend on your needs, interests, and lifestyle. Science-backed stress busters include talk therapy, volunteering, spending time with a furry friend, walking in nature, exercising, and building social connections.
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One method that’s worked for me and my migraine attacks is mindful meditation. There are many opinions about what mediation is and isn’t; however, meditation is generally defined as attention to the present.
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The goal of meditation is not to stop all thoughts but rather to notice thoughts and let them pass like a boat on a river and return to the present. For beginners, it might be helpful to work with a group or use an app to help guide the meditative practice.

Build Exercise Into Your Routine

In addition to meditation, moving your body has been shown to decrease stress and inflammation. Yoga practice has been studied in a variety of clinical situations associated with inflammation including migraine. These studies suggest yoga may reduce migraine frequency and intensity.
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In addition, high-to-moderate-intensity aerobic exercise like brisk walking or water aerobics can help. Moderate-intensity exercise may affect migraine frequency, intensity, duration, and overall migraine-related disability. Prior to beginning any exercise program, speak with your clinician to learn if the exercise program is right for you.

Pro tip: Remember to stay hydrated while exercising! Dehydration is linked to increased inflammation and worse headaches — keep that water bottle nearby.
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Love a Good Night’s Rest

Stress-reducing practices like meditation and yoga may help to improve sleep, and that’s good news! Sleep helps our brains recover from day-to-day activities. Each day, hundreds of thousands of cellular processes occur within the brain, and, interestingly, the brain does not have a lymph system to clear out the waste from these processes. Instead, our brain relies on the glymphatic system to remove toxins; and the glymphatic system is active only during sleep.
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Getting at least seven hours of sleep is key to keeping inflammation at bay. After meditating and exercising, if sleep continues to be elusive, try some of these science-backed tips:
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  • Keep the room between 60 and 67 degrees F.
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  • Try blackout shades and turn off all lights.
  • Use a noise canceling app or machine.
  • Avoid alcohol, especially before bed. (It’s a myth that alcohol helps with sleep; it actually disrupts sleep.)
  • Avoid screens — phone, iPad, and television — before and during sleep.
  • Wear socks! (Socks help your body to maintain an ideal sleep temperature.)

Still not catching Zzzs? Talk with a clinician to rule out any medical conditions that could be contributing, such as obstructive sleep apnea, and discuss options that can improve sleep, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Final Thoughts

There are sources of inflammation everywhere, but that doesn’t mean that acceptance is mandatory. There are many ways to counteract inflammation through changing our eating habits, adding the right supplements, and making lifestyle adjustments. While these methods can help to reduce inflammation and migraine symptoms, they are often used in addition to treatments prescribed by your clinician. Anti-inflammatory modifications should be discussed as part of a holistic treatment plan focused on the center of the care team — you!