Study uses sleep, energy, and moods to predict migraine headaches

NEW DELHI: Anew research has discerned patterns in sleep, energy, emotions and stress that could be used to predict when a migraine could occur.

Researchers found that poor perceived sleep quality and a lower-than-usual quality of sleep on the prior night were both associated with an increased risk of having a migraine the next morning, along with a lower-than-usual energy level.

However, the researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, US, found that the only predictors of an afternoon or evening headache were increased stress levels or having higher-than-average energy the day before.

The team said that the study, published in the journal Neurology, demonstrated the importance of monitoring sleep changes as a predictor of headache attacks.

''The use of apps that track sleep and other health, behavioral and emotional states in real time can provide valuable information that can help us to manage migraine,'' said Tarannum M. Lateef of the Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C., US.

For the study, the researchers asked participants to rate their mood, energy, stress, and headaches four times a day for two weeks through a mobile app. The participants also rated their sleep quality once a day and wore sleep and physical activity monitors.

The team included 477 people aged 7-84 years, of whom nearly half had a history of migraine and 59 per cent had at least one morning headache attack during the study. Of the 477 people, 291 were women.

The researchers found that on average, people with poorer perceived sleep quality had a 22 per cent increased chance and people self-reporting a less-than-usual quality of sleep had an 18 per cent increased chance of experiencing a headache attack the next morning.

Further, people reporting lower levels of energy on the prior day were found to be 16 per cent more likely to get a headache the next morning.

An afternoon or evening headache, in contrast, was associated with higher stress levels and substantially higher-than-usual energy levels on the prior day, with an increased likelihood of 17 per cent.

''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,'' said Kathleen R. Merikangas of the National Institute of Mental Health.

The researchers, however, found that neither anxious nor depressed moods were associated with headache attacks.

The researchers said that the different patterns of predictors of morning and later-day headaches highlighted how headaches could be influenced by circadian rhythms, or biological processes occurring at 24-hour intervals.

''The findings may give us insight into the processes underlying migraine and help us improve treatment and prevention,'' said Merikangas.