Apple Watch and migraine: what it can and can't do

Logging from the wrist

Apple's own apps offer two ways to record migraine-related information on the Watch:

• Cycle Tracking. Apple says you can record symptoms such as headaches in the Cycle Tracking app; they appear in the cycle log on iPhone (Apple Support: Cycle Tracking). It's built for menstrual tracking, but it's the only Apple app on the Watch that mentions headaches.
• Medications. Once you set up medications in Health on iPhone, the Medications app on the Watch reminds you and logs doses from your schedule (Apple Support: medications).

Diary apps with their own Watch app fill the gap: one tap to record that an attack has started, with the details added later on the iPhone. Our guide to logging a migraine from your Apple Watch explains why that timestamp matters.

Sleep and overnight vitals

If you wear the Watch to bed, it estimates time in each sleep stage and gives a sleep score based on how long you slept, how consistent the time you fell asleep was, and how much you were awake during the night. The score appears about 15 minutes after you wake up (Apple Support: Intro to Health data).

The Vitals app shows overnight heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen and sleep duration, depending on your model and region. After several nights it learns your typical range and can notify you when several metrics are outside it (Apple Support: Vitals).

Sleep changes are among the most commonly reported migraine triggers. The American Migraine Foundation notes that both too little and too much sleep can play a part. Watch data lets you compare nights before attacks with ordinary nights instead of relying on memory — see sleep and migraine.

What Apple Watch can't measure

• Pain, aura or other symptoms. No sensor records head pain, visual aura, nausea or sensitivity to light. Those have to be logged by you.
• Migraine itself. Apple doesn't describe any Watch feature that detects or predicts migraine. Apple states that Apple Watch is not a medical device (Apple Support: Vitals).
• Weather and barometric pressure. Apple's list of what Apple Watch sends to Health doesn't include them (Apple Support). Apps that track pressure use a weather service.
• Cause and effect. A short night before an attack is a clue, not proof. Patterns need weeks of entries and a clinician's judgement.

A simple setup that works

1. Wear the Watch at night so sleep data reaches Health.
2. Add your acute and preventive medicines in Health so doses are logged with a time.
3. Use one diary app to record each attack's start as it happens, and let it write to Health.
4. Once a month, look at headache days and medication days together — or let the app count them.

Disclosure: Dim is our app. Its Watch app logs and ends attacks with a tap (a Dim Pro feature), and Dim adds last night's sleep from Health plus weather and pressure to each attack. It works without a Watch, too.

Alerts are not a safety net

A Watch notification, or the lack of one, says nothing about whether a headache is dangerous. Seek urgent care for a sudden, severe headache, or one with weakness, confusion, trouble speaking, fever or a stiff neck.