Helping Your Child Manage Headaches: 8 Practical Tips for Parents

Approximately 58.4% of children and adolescents experience headaches. This common issue can impact your child’s quality of life in many ways, but there are effective strategies that can help manage your child’s headaches. By understanding the triggers and applying some interventions, you can help reduce the frequency and severity of your child’s headaches!

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Nutrition Strategies

Diet plays an important role in managing headaches. Certain foods and eating habits can trigger or alleviate headaches. Consider the following strategies:

1. Avoiding Triggers

Processed snacks and other foods high in sodium can contribute to headaches, reducing sodium intake is beneficial to your overall health. A study from the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) showed that participants with a low-sodium diet reported less headaches compared to those on a high-sodium diet.

Another factor in ultra processed foods (UPF), monosodium glutamate (MSG) can also trigger headaches. To reduce the risk, it’s better to read the ingredient labels and opt for fresh, plant-predominant, whole foods when possible.

Read our blog post on reading ingredient labels and reducing UPF dependence for more information

2. The Importance of Hydration 

Ensuring your child stays well-hydrated helps maintain their blood volume and oxygen delivery to the brain. Studies show that proper hydration is important in managing headaches.

Consider the following fluid intake recommendations for your child:

• 100-125 mL (3-8 ounces) every 15-20 minutes for young adolescents
• Up to 250 mL (12 ounces) every 15-20 minutes for older adolescents

Pro tip: Electrolytes

To boost hydration, try incorporating electrolyte-rich beverages or foods. Electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium help your body retain more water.

A study on athletes found that having sodium (which is an electrolyte) with water during exercise in a hot environment helped to reduce fluid loss compared to just drinking water alone.

Consider these natural sources of electrolytes:

• Sodium: table salt, pickles, olives
• Potassium: bananas, sweet potatoes, coconut water
• Magnesium: leafy greens, nuts, whole grains
• Calcium: dairy products, fortified plant-based milk, leafy greens

3. Balanced Meal Planning

An Italian study found a clear relationship between irregular meals and increased headache frequencies. Trying to keep regular meal times and balanced meals help prevent blood sugar fluctuations that can trigger headaches.

Canada’s Food Guide is a great source for keeping a balanced nutrition by incorporating a variety of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, and plant-predominant proteins! (Check out our blog post to better understand Canada’s Food Guide)

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Benefits of Physical Activity

Regular exercise has been shown to reduce the amount and severity of headaches. Studies involving over 5000 children between the ages of 9 and 18 found that kids experiencing migraines engaged in less physical activity. Encouraging your child to stay active can make a big difference in managing their headaches

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4. Staying Active to Manage Headaches 

Encourage at least 60 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity daily, some examples include biking, playing sports, or swimming.

In a study, 16 patients underwent a 10-week aerobic running exercise program that involved 3 workouts per week on the number of migraine days per month. After the study, patients in the exercise group showed a reduction in both the number of migraines per month and the intensity of the attacks.

5. Exploring Yoga as a Complementary Practice

Yoga has shown to be effective with headache management. A study found that people with a headache history from 7 months to 8 years can improve their quality of life by participating in an 8-week 75-minute yoga intervention-possibly contributing to headache management.

6. Optimizing Your Child’s Sleep

Adequate sleep is essential for managing headaches. Migraines are the most common form of disabling primary headache in children, approximately ⅓ of migraine patients have causes exclusively related to sleep.

Improving Your Child’s Sleep Hygiene

Consider these 5 sleep hygiene recommendations that have been found to decrease headache frequency in 43 women:

• Schedule a consistent bedtime allowing for 8 hours of sleep
• Avoid watching screens, reading, and/or listening to stimulating music before bedtime or in bed
• Use visualization techniques to shorten the time to sleep onset
• Consume dinner at least 4 hours before bedtime and limit fluids within 2 hours
• Try to discontinue daytime naps

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Strategies for Stress Management

Stress has been proven to be a significant trigger for headaches. However, equipping your child with stress management techniques can help!

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7. Practice deep breathing, mindfulness, and relaxation exercises together

• In an 8-week intervention, patients used mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. Afterwards, patients showed decreased levels of stress and anxiety which led to lower headache incidence.
• Studies with adults show that mindfulness meditation can reduce stress levels, frequency and intensity of headaches.

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Screen-time Considerations

With increasing screen time in their daily life due to digital learning and entertainment, digital eye strain has become a common trigger for headaches in children.

8. Improving Your Child’s Screen Hygiene

Consider the following to make your child’s screen-time healthier:  

• Take breaks: encourage regular breaks to reduce eye strain. The 20-20-20 rule is a helpful guide: every 20 minutes, loot at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds
• Proper lighting: ensure your child’s screen isn’t too dim and the room is well-lit to reduce glare
• Screen position: the screen should be at eye level and about an arm’s length away to keep good posture and reduce strain on eyes and neck

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Takeaways

Managing your child’s headaches involves a combination of dietary adjustments, regular physical activity, consistent sleep patterns, and stress management. These strategies can help reduce the frequency and severity of headaches, leading to a healthier and happier childhood. Incorporating these practices, you can actively improve your child’s quality of life.

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Reset Research Team: Lawrentina D'Souza, Alexa Gavrilidis, Deeksha Kumar, Reisa Herbert, Julia Tuccitto