Poor sleep quality plays key role to predicting future migraines, study shows

BOSTON - A new study identifies factors that might predict whether someone will have a migraine headache the next day.

Chronic migraines are a leading cause of disability in people under 50, affecting more than 10% of people worldwide.  

In this new study published in the journal Neurology, researchers asked 477 people between the ages seven and 84, half of whom had a history of migraines, to use a mobile app to rate their mood, energy, stress, and headaches four times a day for two weeks.  

They also rated their sleep quality once a day.  

They found that participants who had poor sleep quality and low energy were more likely to have a migraine the next morning.  

Those with an increase in energy and more than usual stress were more likely to have a migraine later the next day.  

This data suggests that a person's biological clock plays an integral role in migraine onset and knowing that could lead to better ways to prevent and treat migraines in the future.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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