Lifestyle Modifications to Manage Migraine

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Background

Migraines are known to be triggered by many lifestyle-related events such as change in sleep patterns, irregular mealtimes, increased stress levels, and lack of regular physical activity. There is a growing body of literature demonstrating evidence for lifestyle-related changes contributing to increasing prevalence of migraine worldwide. Both observational and interventional clinical studies continue to reveal the efficacy and lasting impact of lifestyle behavior modifications on migraine management. By virtue of boosting internal locus of control, lifestyle modification is known to enable patients to become more proactive and engaged in managing their migraines. Favorable lifestyle behavior modifications such as regular exercise not only improve migraine-related outcomes, but also rebuild the patient’s general wellbeing. Healthy lifestyle behaviors can address psychological comorbidities of migraine, like depression, in addition to managing other non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and dyslipidemia.

Migraine patients are increasingly searching for non-medicinal approaches to manage their migraines, and lifestyle modification such as regular exercise, or regular stress management training, are important components of this. These lifestyle-based treatment approaches are quickly gaining popularity over daily migraine medications that need to be taken for many years. Other factors contributing to rise in lifestyle-based approaches include poor drug compliance, associated drug-related adverse effects, drug to drug interactions, and high medicinal treatment costs. The explosion of currently available digital health tools and wearable devices, which can monitor daily activities such as sleep and exercise, make lifestyle-based migraine treatment a scalable self-management option. Moreover, the potential for individualizing lifestyle-based migraine treatment and prevention approaches paves the way for personalized health in the field of headache. Some migraine patients may only need reinforcement of a particular lifestyle domain (e.g. exercise) compared to others (e.g. sleep).

This Research Topic will elucidate the evidence base and underlying mechanisms for lifestyle approaches for preventing and treating migraines, and will provide expert and evidence-based recommendations for lifestyle modification approaches. In addition, we will outline future clinical trial designs and big-data applications in measuring observed health behaviors in comparison to traditional randomized controlled clinical trials. Bio-molecular and mechanistic pathways explaining lifestyle-based migraine treatment will also be thoroughly discussed in this Research Topic.

We therefore welcome submissions of the following to this Research Topic:

- Epidemiological studies and clinic-based studies showing association between lifestyle factors and migraine, with regards to aspects including its prevalence, clinical presentation, impact, chronification, complications, and prognosis;
- Clinical trials or clinic-based studies on lifestyle interventions for migraine management;
- Suggested biomolecular (e.g. genetics, epigenetics) and pathophysiological mechanisms behind lifestyle factor contributions to migraines and pathophysiological mechanisms for the efficacy of lifestyle-based management approaches;
- Lifestyle modifications for migraine-related psychological and medical comorbidities (e.g. depression, obesity, asthma);
- Digital health and lifestyle-based interventions in migraine.

We would like to acknowledge that Dr. Arão Oliveira, Federal University of São Paulo, has acted as a coordinator and has contributed to the preparation of the proposal for this Research Topic.

Topic Editor Yohannes W Woldeamanuel is the founder and CEO of Propria Health Solutions Co. and Advanced Clinical & Research Center. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: migraine, lifestyle modification, stress management, epigenetics, sleep and exercise

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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