Coffee & Migraines: Does Coffee Help Or Does It Worsen Your Headache?
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Living Well

Coffee And Migraines: A Double-Edged Sword

Aug 16, 2017

Do you know that coffee and migraines share a strange connection? Coffee can help reduce acute headaches almost instantaneously. But if you’re a regular coffee drinker and start avoiding coffee, you will end up getting headaches. Let’s find out how you can enjoy your coffee while staying away from headaches. coffee and migraines

Seek Coffee For Instant Relief From Headaches

Caffeine is easily one of the cheapest and the fastest solutions to treat a migraine.

Swelling or enlargement of blood vessels is a cause of migraines. Coffee works for migraine because it helps in constricting enlarged blood vessels.

Therefore, caffeine is an important ingredient in many migraine medications such as Anacin, Norgesic etc.

It also increases energy levels naturally. Apart from being an effective migraine reliever, it can also help in absorbing other pain medications better.

So, while coffee helps for headache, too much of it can be unhealthy. Overuse of any substance can lead to a dependency on it; this applies to caffeine too.

When Is Coffee Harmful For Headaches?

But the exact opposite of this is also true. Once you start avoiding coffee, the blood vessels that were earlier being constricted with coffee start to expand again. And the headaches reappear as a withdrawal symptom of coffee. It is a common condition experienced by coffee lovers all over the world. In fact, you need not be a big coffee addict to experience withdrawal symptoms of coffee. Even cutting down on coffee by little can lead to headaches. So how do you manage the situation?

For The Love Of Coffee – Keep A Check On Your Coffee Intake

  • Limit it to a cup or two a day.
  • If you notice frequent migraines, consider cutting it down. But do it slowly, that’s the key.
  • Try meditation and other relaxation techniques like yoga to ease the withdrawal symptoms of coffee.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17442681