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The Top Migraine Triggers

For people who experience from migraines, certain foods, strong perfumes, flickering lights, and weather changes and other environmental factors can set off an attack. But not everyone has the same triggers, and not every time—and that makes the migraine trigger a frustrating prey to hunt down. There is, however, general agreement about the most common triggers. Here's how to spot them and reduce your headache frequency.

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Don't avoid all triggers just yet

Remember that triggers are different for everyone, so the foods and stressors here are a list of suspects, not convicts: You need to narrow it down to your own personal triggers. Try keeping a headache diary to help you identify the ones that trouble you.

"I don't have my patients avoid these things, I just have them be aware of them," says Larry Newman, MD, director of the Headache Institute at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. "Not every trigger is a consistent trigger, so chocolate may do it to you some days but not other days. It may be a combination of you having chocolate when you are vulnerable and on your period, or having chocolate and it's about to rain, or having chocolate and you didn't sleep enough the night before."

If you keep track of patterns over time, you should be able to make changes that will help you cope—without having to sacrifice unnecessarily.