A mid-age woman is having a headache.
You’re familiar with the pain of a migraine — the intense throbbing concentrated mostly on one side your head and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, or hypersensitivity to light and sound.
Here’s what you might not know about migraines:
Obesity may raise your risk: Researchers at Johns Hopkins recently analyzed data from nearly 4,000 adults and found the odds of episodic migraines (the kind that occurs 14 days or fewer a month) were more than 80 percent higher in the obese participants.
Lightning could spark one: Changes in weather or barometric pressure are known migraine triggers, but results from a study of patients suggest lightning may affect the onset of headaches.
Another surprising time that could set off a headache? At the start of a weekend or first day of vacation. To help determine your triggers, keep a headache diary. In the diary, note when your headaches start, how long they last and what, if anything, provides relief. Poor treatment could lead to more frequent headaches.