Some cities can be healthier for migraine sufferers, and can reduce the incidence of migraine attacks. According to research conducted in 2006 by some researchers, four categories of data were analyzed to determine which cities were the best and the worst for those with migraine. While more recent analyses have added access to world-class healthcare to this list, the original methodology used for determining these hotspots included several parameters such as:
Lifestyle factors: Factors that can contribute to an increase in migraine attacks include the number of hours of overtime worked, plane travel, frequency of vigorous exercise, frequency of insomnia, and frequency of sunburn. Irregular sleep patterns and high amounts of stress also contribute to the frequency of migraine headaches.
Prescriptions filled: This is defined as the number of migraine-related prescriptions per capita.
Environmental factors: Many environmental factors are commonly known to trigger migraines, such as barometric pressure, rapidly changing weather, and extreme temperatures. The coasts are safer than the mountains when it comes to rapidly changing weather. Migraines can also result from the social environment, induced by factors such as divorce rates, crime rates, suicide rates, and commute time.
Consumption of common food triggers: While this is a personal factor, common trigger foods include citrus fruits and juices, cheese, chocolates, pickles, sour cream, nuts, coffee, tea, soda, hot dogs, sausages, peanut butter, and foods with nitrates in them.
Based on these factors, the 10 worst cities to live in across the country are:
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
Madison, WI
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR
Knoxville, TN
St. Louis, MO-IL
Nashville, TN
Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
Chattanooga, TN-VA
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC
Canton-Massillon, OH
The only common factor among all these cities was the high number of prescriptions filled. Cities like Little Rock, Arkansas, made it to the list because of a large number of environmental factors, especially rapidly changing weather and barometric pressure. Cincinnati and St. Louis, on the other hand, are high on this list due to lifestyle factors and local food triggers.
Based on these factors, some of the best cities to live in across the country are New Haven and Boston in Connecticut, McAllen and El Paso in Texas, New York City, Salina, Los Angeles, and Fresno in California, Miami in Florida, and Honolulu in Hawaii.