Self Help

There are three reasons why migraines are more common among women than men. They are: Hormonal changes, genetic susceptibility, and increased levels of stress. Let’s examine these reasons in more detail.

For women of child bearing age, monthly hormonal shifts could be triggering their migraine headaches. A clue that hormonal shifts may be a factor is if their headaches occur just before their period or during menstruation, which is the case for 60% of women with migraines.

Other events causing female hormonal shifts, such as pregnancy or menopause, can directly affect their migraines, causing them to decrease, subside, or become more frequent. Of course, there are also variations for every woman, even at the same ages and stages. For example, during pregnancy, some women experience a decrease in migraines while others experience migraine for the first time.

Sometimes hormones that we introduce into our bodies can affect our probability for migraine. For example, oral contraceptives (all of which contain hormones) can trigger migraines in some women, while others are not affected. Hormone replacement therapy may alleviate migraines in some menopausal women, exacerbate them in others. Menstruation, pregnancy, and menopausal migraines are major complaints among women with migraines.

Studies comparing twins raised together with twins raised apart have been performed for years in many countries and have clearly established that migraine runs in families. Research has revealed that if both your parents experienced migraines, you have 70% chance of getting a migraine. If your parents didn’t suffer from migraines and you do, a careful survey of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins will probably yield a history of “sick headaches,” or migraine.

But why is it that females, so much more than males, are cursed with migraine headaches? Though there is no conclusive evidence, the cause may be related to estrogen. Prior to puberty, boys and girls experience migraines in equal numbers. After puberty, migraine is a far greater problem for women, and that three-to-one ratio kicks in.

If you are a woman raising a family, maintaining a household, and holding down a full-time job, that doesn’t leave a lot of time to be down with a migraine. Torn between work demands, family demands, marital demands, and just about overall everyday living, it’s no wonder that many women today find themselves feeling stress overload.

For women who don’t have a propensity for getting migraines, such stresses are unlikely to cause them. However, if they do have that tendency, then stress can be their number one trigger.