Bright lights and too much exercise are well-known migraine
launchers, but the latest study hints that sufferers may not be
as sensitive to these triggers as previously thought.
Researchers report in the journal Neurology that commonly
suspected migraine triggers might not be responsible for a
hurting head after all. Unlike previous studies of migraine
triggers, in which sufferers were asked about what conditions or
situations preceded a headache, the scientists exposed 27
migraine patients in a lab to flashing lights, intense exercise
or a combination of both to provoke a migraine with aura, a type
of headache accompanied by often debilitating visual
disturbances. Only a handful of subjects experienced any sort of
migraine, and those who did had exercised, suggesting that
bright lights may not be to blame. The participants ran or used
an exercise bike at maximum effort for an hour, while
researchers used a combination of lamps, flashes and other
visual stimuli to mimic light disturbances for up to 40 minutes