Do you have migraine and are hesitant to exercise for fear of triggering an attack? In “It’s going a lot better” on RTL, Dr Jimmy Mohamed, doctor and presenter of the show, recalls the essentials: sport is not necessarily the enemy of migraineprovided that you avoid brutal efforts and favor regular practice.
A migraine is not just a headache
Before talking about physical activity, Dr Jimmy Mohamed emphasizes one point: migraine is a real chronic illnesswith crises that can prevent you from continuing your day. In France, Health Insurance estimates that approximately 11 million people are affectedincluding 12% of adults.
The signs he describes correspond to the characteristic symptoms of migraine: an attack often lasts several hours, with pain that can be very disabling.
- Pain often located on only one side of the skull;
- Pulsating sensation, like beating;
- Nausea, sometimes vomiting;
- Discomfort to light or noise;
- Difficulty, or even impossibility, in continuing usual activities.
This distinction matters because not all headaches are migraines. Sudden, unusual pain associated with fever, neck stiffness, confusion, weakness on one side of the body, speech or vision problems should prompt urgent medical advice.
Why a sudden effort can trigger a crisis
In the column, Dr. Jimmy Mohamed describes migraine as a condition that is very sensitive to change. This is not a strict medical definition, but a useful image: in some people, a change in rhythm or environment can promote an attack.
Possible triggers vary greatly from patient to patient. He cites in particular stress, lack of sleep, hormonal variations, particularly in certain women, or even dietary variations such as a skipped or very copious meal. The idea is not to feel guilty, but to identify what disrupts your own balance.
This is where sport becomes paradoxical. According to Dr. Jimmy Mohamed, very intense, brutal exercise or repeated too quickly can cause an attackespecially if it is combined with heat, dehydration or the stress of exercise. This nuance is important: it is not a question of saying that physical activity always triggers a migraine, but that it can do so in certain migraine sufferers, under certain conditions.
To resume without transforming the effort into a triggering factor, a few guidelines remain useful:
- Resume gradually, without seeking immediate performance;
- Choose a moderate intensity, compatible with your abilities;
- Avoid sessions in high heat or in a state of marked fatigue;
- Drink enough and do not leave on an empty stomach if this is one of your triggers;
- Do not do sports during an established crisis.
The right benchmark: regular, moderate and appropriate activity
The central contribution of the chronicle is here: regular physical activity can help some migraine sufferers have fewer attacks. Dr Jimmy Mohamed mentions a simple benchmark, 30 minutes three times a week, practiced if possible for pleasure, or even with other people.
This figure should not be understood as a universal prescription. A clinical recommendation published in 2023 in
The Journal of Headache and Painby Roy La Touche and his colleagues, goes in the same direction: sessions of moderate aerobic exercise, repeated several times a week for several weeks, can improve the frequency of headaches in migraine patients. This is a possible help, not a treatment that replaces prescribed medications.
How could sport act? Dr. Jimmy Mohamed puts forward several ideas: physical activity could make the brain less reactive to certain triggers, improve sleep, reduce stress and promote neurobiological effects associated with well-being. These mechanisms must be presented with caution: they explain a possible association, without proving that sport reduces attacks in all migraine sufferers in the same way. To explore this link further, our file on moderate physical activity and migraine also details this double-edged role.
What remains is what to do when a crisis begins. In the show, the doctor advises not to wait for the pain to set in before using the planned treatment. The French recommendations published in The Medical Press Training confirm that seizure treatment is usually more effective when started earlyaccording to the terms defined with a health professional.
On the other hand, the formula according to which anti-inflammatories are “the” reference treatment must be qualified. NSAIDs are among the options, but so are triptans, depending on the intensity of the attacks, the patient’s profile, contraindications and treatments already taken. Pregnancy, history of ulcer, renal failure, anticoagulants, certain cardiovascular risks or asthma triggered by NSAIDs require medical advice. If the attacks become frequent, long, poorly relieved or very disabling, a doctor can discuss basic treatment of the migraine. The objective is to reduce the frequency and impact of crisesnot to promise their disappearance.