Yes, crying can trigger migraines. In a study of 163 people with headache disorders, 55% identified crying as a potential trigger for their attacks. Among those specifically diagnosed with migraines, the number was even higher: about 83% reported that crying could set off an episode. That puts crying just behind stress and anxiety as one of the most commonly reported migraine triggers.
The connection isn’t random. Crying involves a chain of physical and hormonal changes that can each independently nudge someone toward a migraine, and together they create a powerful trigger.
Why Crying Triggers Migraines
Several things happen in your body during a hard cry, and each one can contribute to a migraine.
The most significant factor is the stress hormone cortisol. When you’re upset enough to cry, cortisol surges. Cortisol actually helps suppress pain while it’s elevated, but as you calm down and cortisol drops, that protective effect vanishes. The fluctuation itself appears to be the problem. Research from the American Migraine Foundation found that during the first six hours after a decline in stress, the risk of a migraine attack was nearly five times higher than at baseline. So the migraine often doesn’t hit while you’re actively sobbing. It arrives afterward, as your body tries to return to normal.
Prolonged crying also leads to mild dehydration. Tears pull fluid from your body, and most people don’t drink water while they’re in the middle of an emotional episode. Even modest dehydration can affect the brain by increasing the concentration of blood and body fluids, which causes the brain to pull slightly away from pain-sensitive membranes surrounding it. Studies show that women who drank around two liters of water per day had reduced severity, duration, and frequency of migraine attacks compared to those who drank less.
Then there’s the physical tension. Crying tightens muscles in the face, jaw, neck, and shoulders. It causes sinus congestion as blood flow increases to the nasal passages and tear ducts. That combination of muscle tension and sinus pressure can both trigger and worsen head pain.
The Let-Down Effect
One of the less obvious reasons crying leads to migraines is something researchers call the “let-down” effect. This happens when a migraine strikes not during emotional distress but after it passes. People with migraines commonly get attacks after finishing a tough week at work, at the start of a vacation, or after resolving an emotional conflict. The pattern also applies to crying: once the tears stop and you start to feel better, the migraine begins.
One study tracked mood shifts and found that in the 12 to 24 hours after a person’s mood shifted from “sad” or “nervous” to “happy” or “relaxed,” the likelihood of a migraine increased by 20%. This is thought to be driven by the drop in cortisol. While stress is high, cortisol keeps pain pathways in check. When stress resolves, cortisol falls, and the brain becomes more vulnerable to a migraine cascade. Even positive emotional events can trigger an attack through this same mechanism.
Migraine vs. Tension Headache After Crying
Not every headache after crying is a migraine. Crying can also trigger tension-type headaches, which feel and behave differently.
- Tension headache: A dull, pressing sensation that wraps around your head like a band. It typically affects both sides equally, doesn’t get worse with physical activity, and doesn’t come with nausea or light sensitivity. This is usually caused by the muscle tightening in your face, neck, and scalp during crying.
- Migraine: A throbbing or pulsing pain, often on one side of the head, that intensifies with movement. It frequently comes with nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and can last anywhere from four hours to three days. This is more likely driven by the hormonal and neurological shifts described above.
In the study of headache patients, crying triggered migraines more than twice as often as it triggered tension headaches (62 people vs. 28). Women were disproportionately affected in both groups, which aligns with the broader pattern of migraines being more common in women overall.
How to Reduce the Risk
You can’t always prevent yourself from crying, and you shouldn’t try to. Emotional tears serve a real purpose. But if you know crying is a trigger for you, a few strategies can reduce the chance of it escalating into a full migraine.
Hydrate as soon as you can. Drinking water during or right after crying helps counteract the fluid loss from tears and the reduced intake that comes with being upset. Even a glass or two can make a difference, especially if your crying episode lasts more than a few minutes.
Address the muscle tension directly. Once the crying subsides, gently stretching your neck, relaxing your jaw, and applying a cool or warm compress to your forehead or the back of your neck can help prevent the physical tension from developing into pain. Slow, deep breathing as you calm down may also help smooth out the cortisol drop rather than letting it plummet suddenly.
If you already have a migraine treatment that works for you, taking it early matters. Standard pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen are more effective when taken at the first sign of head pain rather than after a migraine is fully established. For people with prescription migraine treatments, the same early-intervention principle applies. The key is not to wait and see if the headache gets worse.
If crying regularly triggers debilitating migraines and you’re finding it hard to manage, that’s worth bringing up at your next medical visit. Preventive migraine treatments exist that target the underlying neurological pathways, and they work regardless of what triggers the individual attack.