Ellen Phiddian
Cosmos science journalist
Researchers have come up with a possible new predictor of migraines, the debilitating headaches with mysterious causes.
A large proportion of the population suffer from migraines, with women three times more likely to be affected than men.
Now a new study is saying a bad night’s sleep may be a predictor of morning migraines.
A study published in Neurology has found a link between perceived unusually poor sleep and migraines the morning after, as well as a link between migraines and poor sleep in general.
The study tracked 477 US residents for 2 weeks over a mobile phone app. Participants were aged between 7-84, and 291 members of the study group were female.
Participants were asked to rate their mood, energy, stress, and headaches 4 times a day, as well as rating their sleep quality and wearing sleep and fitness monitors.
“These different patterns of predictors of morning and later-day headaches highlight the role of the circadian rhythms in headache,” says study author Dr Kathleen Merikangas, from the US the National Institute of Mental Health.
“The findings may give us insight into the processes underlying migraine and help us improve treatment and prevention.”
People who rated their sleep quality as poorer, on average had a 22% increased chance of morning headaches, while one night of poorer sleep quality yielded an 18% higher chance of a headache the next morning. Lower energy levels the day before were also linked to a higher risk of a morning headache.
“Ironically, sleep is also one of the most effective treatments for acute migraine,” Merikangas tells Cosmos.
“This highlights the importance of characterization of sleep and further investigation of potential mechanisms for these results.”
Afternoon headaches, meanwhile, were more likely to occur if greater levels of stress or higher energy had been recorded the day prior.
“This suggests that people may already be perceiving changes in the brain that may reflect the neural systems in arousal involved in migraine attacks,” says Merikangas.
“Although this research did not collect direct data on energy metabolism, it is likely that the subjective report is reflecting underlying changes in arousal that may be induced by autonomic or other systems that may have direct influence on migraine.”
The researchers found no link between anxiety and depression symptoms and headache risk, which Merikangas says is “surprising”.
“Perhaps most interesting, headaches were associated with self-rated sleep quality rather than actual measures of sleep patterns. This highlights the importance of perceived physical and emotional states in the underlying causes of migraine,” she says.
The researchers point out in their paper that their two-week study period is quite brief. Merikangas tells Cosmos that the team is working on longer-term data in migraine patterns.
“We have recently begun a new protocol at the NIH Clinical Center entitled ‘Rhythms and Blues’, that examines the patterns and correlates of mood disorders and comorbid conditions in the context of a large community-based family study,” she says.
This year-long study will track measures like sleep, cortisol and heart rate.
“Hopefully, this will inform how the process is initiated and enable us to identify ways to prevent the cascade of initiation and progression of migraine attacks,” says Merikangas.
