Abstract
Children and teenagers with migraine are often advised to live a life of perfect balance—to
sleep regularly and well, to eat breakfast each day, to drink plenty of water, and
to exercise religiously. The logic is that doing so will decrease their migraine frequency.
The corollary that follows is that failing to follow such advice will result in the
patient continuing to experience migraine at its current frequency. This opens the
door to potentially blaming the patients for their migraine and contributing to migraine
stigma. This article reviews the current state of the evidence for each of these behavioral
interventions for migraine prevention, and provides the clinician with practical advice
for counseling patients.
Keywords
migraine - sleep - exercise - hydration
