Amy Mowbray was working a summer job at the Wimbledon Championships when she first experienced the terrifying onset of a chronic condition. At just 21, the university student noticed flickering lines on the edges of her vision, which quickly escalated into zigzagging, shimmering lines blocking nearly her entire sight. Overwhelmed and with a throbbing headache, she recounts having to take a cab home because she didn't feel safe walking. After falling asleep, she awoke feeling normal, but the reprieve was temporary. The debilitating headaches returned the following January and never truly left. Within months, Amy's life dramatically changed from that of an ambitious recent graduate to being bed-bound back in her childhood home.

Amy was diagnosed with chronic migraine, a debilitating neurological condition that predominantly affects women between the ages of 20 and 50. In Britain, nearly 10 million people suffer from migraine, which manifests as severe headaches often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances known as aura, similar to what Amy experienced. Approximately one million individuals grapple with chronic migraine, meaning they endure intense, throbbing head pain for more than half of each month. The exact causes of the condition remain unclear, and currently, there is no known cure.

For Amy, the condition was particularly severe. She experienced extreme sensitivity to light and sound, stating, 'The pain was suffocating. I was so sensitive to noise that the sounds of my mum emptying the dishwasher several closed doors and a floor below me could set me off.' This profound sensitivity, coupled with a persistent headache, forced her to quit her job and spend nearly a year bed-ridden. Despite this, the now 32-year-old charity worker claims to have almost entirely overcome her migraines through simple lifestyle adjustments, after years of unsuccessful treatments.

Traditional treatments for migraine, besides painkillers, include beta blockers and antidepressants, which aim to reduce the frequency and severity of attacks by blocking pain pathways and reducing brain inflammation. While these can be effective for some, they typically only reduce the number of migraines by about 40 percent. For a significant portion of sufferers, including Amy, these medications prove entirely ineffective. Newer medications, known as anti-CGRPs, target specific pain pathways in the brain to block signals and reduce migraine frequency. However, these too have limitations, being ineffective in up to 40 percent of chronic migraine patients because not all patients are triggered by the same pathways.

Patients are often advised to identify and avoid personal migraine triggers, which can vary widely from bright lights and high-stress environments to specific foods like cheese and even weather changes. Amy found this approach counterproductive, feeling that 'All the focus on treatments and triggers took me down a path of feeling worse – I felt everything was a trigger.'

Her breakthrough came when she made a simple yet profound change: adhering to a strict daily routine. She committed to waking up every day at 7:30 am and being in bed by 10 pm, maintaining this schedule even on weekends. She also ensured she ate regular meals, never skipping lunch. While this rigid routine initially impacted her social life, Amy considers it a small price to pay for her improved health. She noted, 'The more scheduled my day became, the better I began to feel. And my migraines grew much less frequent.'

Professor Peter Goadsby, director of the King’s Clinical Research Facility at the National Institute for Health and Care Research and a recipient of the 2021 Brain Prize for migraine research, supports the idea that thousands of other chronic migraine patients could benefit from similar lifestyle shifts. He explains that the brain's structure is influenced by sleep and circadian rhythm, and disruptions to routine can lead to sensory overload. A 2025 Harvard study reinforced this, finding an 88 percent increased risk of a migraine attack when a patient's day was more unpredictable than usual.

Prof. Goadsby suggests that solutions can be as straightforward as maintaining regular sleep patterns, consistent meal times, and even exercise. While acknowledging that it won't be a universal cure and that new medications are continually being developed, he asserts that a more careful approach to daily rhythm generally leads to better outcomes for sufferers. Since 2022, Amy no longer meets the criteria for chronic migraine, experiencing attacks only every few months. She expresses her astonishment, stating, 'Relief came from such a simple change – I can’t believe how far I’ve come.'