Does screen time cause migraine?

Screens are commonly blamed, but they usually come bundled with glare, eye strain, poor posture and missed breaks, so it's hard to isolate them. Logging screen-heavy days with those companions is how you see what's really travelling with your attacks.

What should I log alongside screen time?

Glare or flicker, neck tension, hydration and whether you took breaks. Recording these next to screen use helps separate the screens themselves from the habits around them.

Screen time and migraine: tracking the link

Long stretches at a screen are one of the most common things people blame for their migraine days — but the picture is tangled, because screen time comes bundled with glare, poor posture, eye strain, skipped breaks and stress. Temple can't prove screens triggered an attack, but a dated record can help you see whether heavy-screen days really do travel with yours.

Why screen time is a tangled trigger

Screens rarely act alone. The Migraine Trust and the American Migraine Foundation point to factors that often accompany long screen sessions — glare and flicker, eye strain, neck and shoulder tension, dehydration and skipped breaks — any of which may be doing the work. So 'screens' is best treated as a cluster to unpick rather than a single proven cause, and recording it is how you unpick it.

How to log it usefully

Note the days with unusually long or intense screen use beside your migraine days, and if you can, whether you took breaks, drank enough and how your neck felt. Logging those companions alongside screen time is what lets you see whether the screens themselves, or the habits around them, track with your attacks.

How Temple surfaces the pattern

Temple keeps your screen-time notes next to your dated migraine days and your other trigger notes — light, neck tension, hydration — so a heavy-screen pattern can be separated from the things that ride along with it. The diary records the association; it doesn't predict attacks or set a screen limit.

Temple logs heavy-screen days beside your dated migraine days and their companions, so you can tell screens from the glare, strain and missed breaks around them.

Coming soon on theApp StoreComing soon to the App Store

Common questions

Does screen time cause migraine?: Screens are commonly blamed, but they usually come bundled with glare, eye strain, poor posture and missed breaks, so it's hard to isolate them. Logging screen-heavy days with those companions is how you see what's really travelling with your attacks.
What should I log alongside screen time?: Glare or flicker, neck tension, hydration and whether you took breaks. Recording these next to screen use helps separate the screens themselves from the habits around them.