Healthy lifestyle

Keeping a healthy lifestyle, good diet and exercising regularly can help to fight stress and the many factors that cause anxiety, which may prevent headaches.

+ The likelihood of suffering from a headache reduces when you learn to manage stressful situations and psychological and emotional tensions and maintain a healthy rhythm. With the help of a specialist you can identify what daily lifestyle habits may contribute to recurring headaches. Some general recommendations include:

∎ Sleeping well

You should try to keep a regular sleeping schedule, maintaining a set time for going to bed and waking up, making sure to get a minimum amount of 7 hours sleep a night. Next, try to adjust the rest of your daily activities to a strict schedule. The body needs repairing sleep, which is fundamental to prevent insomnia and restoring rest. Using a comfortable mattress, avoiding eating right before going to bed and avoiding excess coffee, alcohol and cigarettes may help you to sleep better.

∎ Eating healthy food

Eating a healthy diet isn't limited to only avoiding certain foods and eating others (see Headache fighting foods, on page 46), but is important to keep a regular schedule to eat without being in a hurry. In addition, try to follow a balanced diet and eat the four traditional meals: breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.

∎ Regularly exercising

If you haven't kept a regular exercise routine, it's recommended to walk daily, starting with 15 minutes a day and increasing the time as your body feels stronger, until you can walk an hour a day. It is also good to practice sports or to lift weights, which when practiced in moderation can help to prevent bad posture (especially the shoulders and curved back). If you work sitting for long periods of time or work in front of a computer, it's highly recommended to take a few minutes every hour to relieve muscular tension in the shoulder and neck by flexing the muscles in the back (stretching forward and backward), while you raise your chin, close your eyes and breath deeply.

FOODS TO AVOID

1. • Chocolate.
2. • Sausages, deli meats, pate and cured meats.
3. • Canned fish, pickled herring, shellfish and game meat.
4. • Aged or fermented cheeses.
5. • Coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolate milk (in excess).
6. • Alcoholic drinks (especially beer).
7. • Butter and whole cream.
8. • Olives, pickles and other pickled vegetables.
9. • Lentils, chick peas, cabbage and onion.

∎ Reducing stress

Sometimes it's not possible to avoid all types of situations that cause stress, you can try different strategies to reduce daily tension. For example, practicing basic relaxation and meditation techniques may help. You may want to learn different techniques to face difficult situations and whenever necessary, consult a psychotherapist.