Can alcohol cause migraines? | Drinkaware (2024)

Migraines cause severe or moderate pain that tends to be a headache with a throbbing pain on one side of the head. Their exact cause is unknown, but alcohol can be a common trigger for many people who suffer from them.¹

Find out why, and what you can do to avoid alcohol-related migraines.

Migraine symptoms

A migraine is usually a one-sided headache that tends to recur in a similar way, but the symptoms are different for everybody. It can be brought on by particular triggers, which vary for different people. A common trigger is alcohol.²

If you suffer from migraines, you will learn to recognise which particular symptoms affect you. These may include experiencing an ‘aura’ as a warning symptom that a migraine is coming on – this might mean experiencing disturbed vision – such as seeing spots or zig-zag lines. Nausea (a feeling that you might vomit) or vomiting and sensitivity to bright light or sound are also widely reported migraine symptoms.

Migraines are a common health condition – they affect around one in five women, and around one in 15 men.³

Does drinking alcohol trigger migraines?

Drinking alcohol is a trigger for migraine in some people – one study found around a third (33%) of people who get migraines are sensitive to alcohol.⁴ Others react to hunger, or certain foods.

The mechanism for alcohol triggering migraine and other headaches remains uncertain, but it is likely to be related to the way alcohol affects your brain cells.⁵

How does alcohol affect your brain?

Do particular drinks trigger migraines?

Among people who find alcohol can trigger a migraine, most find that any alcoholic drink can trigger one, but others may find that particular drinks are more of a problem.

Red wine has been highlighted as a migraine trigger for some people. There is some scientific evidenceto suggest that substances found in red wine could cause issues for people with certain sensitivities or intolerances.⁶

For example, some people have an intolerance to histamine, which is usually contained in larger amounts in red wine than white and can be associated with migraines.⁷

Red wine can also cause a rise in the level of a type of brain chemical called serotonin (5-HT) in the blood.⁸ This has been linked to migraine headaches, though once again, the relationship is poorly understood.

Sulphites are often blamed for causing headaches too (though not migraines specifically),⁹ and white wine usually contains higher levels of sulphites than red wine.

How to reduce your drinking

Keep a diary to understand your triggers

Migraines and their triggers are very individual – what affects one person may cause no problems for the next. Many migraine sufferers find that keeping a diary helps them identify their own personal triggers and understand their patterns of migraines better.

Keeping a diary will mean you have a record of your symptoms alongside what food you’ve eaten and what you have drunk – including how much alcohol, its type and also how much caffeine you’ve consumed. Stress can play a big part in migraines,¹⁰ so you might notice you’re more prone to getting one after a difficult week at work. For women, hormonal changes related to periods are often a factor.¹¹

Keep track with how much you drink with the MyDrinkaware app

TheUK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelinesare designed to help all adults keep the health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level.

However, some migraine sufferers may find even small amounts of certain alcoholic drinks cause problems for them, so if that’s you, it’s probably best to avoid those alcoholic drinks altogether. Studies have shown that migraine sufferers may suffer migraine symptoms even at low levels of drinking.¹²

What to expect if you stop drinking