Common Migraine Triggers

What triggers a migraine?

A migraine trigger is any factor that increases the likelihood of a migraine attack in a susceptible person. Triggers don’t cause migraines on their own. Instead, they lower the threshold in someone whose nervous system is already predisposed.

What makes triggers tricky is that they’re highly individual. A food that triggers one person may be completely safe for another. And triggers often work in combination: you might tolerate chocolate fine on a good day, but chocolate plus poor sleep plus stress could set off an attack.

Food and drink triggers

These are among the most commonly reported dietary triggers:

• Aged cheeses, which contain tyramine that increases with aging (parmesan, blue cheese, brie)
• Alcohol, especially red wine, beer, and champagne; related to histamine and sulfites
• Chocolate, which contains both caffeine and beta-phenylethylamine
• Processed meats like hot dogs, bacon, and deli meats that contain nitrates/nitrites
• MSG (monosodium glutamate), found in some Asian cuisine, snack foods, and seasoning blends
• Artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame (found in diet sodas)
• Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits in some individuals
• Caffeine, where both excess intake and sudden withdrawal can trigger attacks

Environmental triggers

• Weather changes, including barometric pressure drops, high humidity, extreme heat or cold
• Bright or flickering lights such as sunlight, fluorescent lighting, screens
• Strong smells like perfume, cleaning products, cigarette smoke, paint
• Altitude changes from flying or mountain travel

Lifestyle triggers

• Sleep disruption, whether too little sleep, too much sleep, or an irregular sleep schedule
• Stress, both during high-stress periods and the “let-down” after stress resolves
• Skipped meals, where fasting or going too long between meals causes blood sugar drops
• Dehydration from insufficient water intake, especially in warm weather
• Intense exercise, particularly if not accustomed to the activity level

Hormonal triggers

• Menstruation, where oestrogen drops before a period are a well-documented trigger
• Oral contraceptives, with hormonal fluctuations from starting, stopping, or switching
• Perimenopause, with irregular hormone levels during the transition

Sensory triggers

• Screen time from prolonged use of phones, computers, or tablets
• Noise from loud or sustained noise exposure
• Motion from car travel, boats, or visual motion (scrolling, 3D movies)

Why triggers work in combination

Research suggests a “threshold model” of migraine: your brain has a tolerance level, and individual triggers add up. On their own, each factor may be below the threshold. But stack two or three together, say poor sleep, a glass of wine, and a weather front, and you cross the line.

This is why single-trigger elimination diets often fail. You need to track multiple factors simultaneously to see the full picture.

How to identify your triggers

The gold standard is a detailed diary kept over at least 2-4 weeks, logging:

• What you ate and drank (and when)
• Sleep duration and quality
• Stress level
• Weather conditions
• Menstrual cycle phase
• Any migraine symptoms (timing, severity, duration, location)

Flarely tracks all of these factors and uses on-device pattern detection to find correlations, including multi-factor trigger combos that are nearly impossible to spot manually.