Thank you for asking such a fascinating question.
How do Migraines Occur?
A migraine starts with overactive nerve cells in the brain. These cells send a message that causes some blood vessels to dilate and release chemicals, resulting in an inflamed blood vessel. This leads to the throbbing pain that a person feels. The bad news is that once a person has the headache, he becomes even more sensitive to bright lights and loud sounds.
How Migraine Affects our Senses
Headaches are just one symptom of the overall migraine condition. Researchers have found that people who get migraines have extra connections in the parts of their brains that process light and sound. Those areas are more active than they are in people who don't get migraines, and that leads to a bigger response.
It has been estimated that between 85 and 90% of people with migraine experience sensitivity to light. Photophobia is linked to the connection between cells in the eyes that detect light and a nerve that goes to the head.
There are some recent studies that suggest that specific neural pathways from the eye to the brain become activated at the onset of an attack, which may lead to the sudden light sensitivity and headache symptoms that many people with migraine experience immediately after exposure. Other scientists believe that there are special cells in the eye that are highly sensitive to certain wavelengths of light (including blue).
Another important recent discovery is that fluctuations in dopamine released by the brain—which influences movement, emotion, and pleasure, among other key functions—may explain why migraine sufferers experience sensitivity to light during a migraine attack as well as other painful reactions to touch, sound and smell.
Managing Migraines
A dark, quiet room is perhaps the most common refuge during the headache phase of a migraine attack because it removes a majority of any external factors that may be worsening the attack. One published survey showed that it was in fact the most popular treatment method, with more than 90% of patients having tried it. A quiet dark room can begin to diminish symptoms within 10-20 minutes after the onset of an attack of migraine.
