How long does a migraine last — How long does a migraine attack last? — What are the symptoms of a migraine? An essential overview

For the direct question, how long does a migraine last: the usual range for a migraine attack is 4 hours to 3 days. That is a useful reference point, not a stopwatch-based diagnosis. One person may have an attack that settles after a morning in a dark room; another may have symptoms that affect work, family plans and sleep across several days. The timing also depends on what is being counted. The severe headache may be the most visible part, while fatigue, neck stiffness, mood change or food cravings can begin beforehand and low energy can linger after the pain eases. The NHS describes early symptoms beginning hours or up to two days before head pain and finishing after the headache has stopped. [1]

What are the symptoms of a migraine? A typical attack can bring moderate to severe throbbing or pulsating head pain, often worse with movement, alongside nausea, vomiting, and marked sensitivity to light and sounds. Some people want to lie still in a dark, quiet room because ordinary screens, travel noise or household activity feels overwhelming. The pain may be one-sided, but it does not have to be, and no single symptom proves the cause of a headache. The useful question is the whole pattern: onset, duration, what the pain feels like, whether activity worsens it, what comes with it, and how the episode differs from your ordinary headaches. A local Hong Kong hospital guide similarly describes migraine as potentially severe, pulsating pain with nausea, vomiting and light or sound sensitivity. [3]

A migraine does not always unfold in a neat sequence. Some people have headache without aura. Others notice early changes only after they start keeping notes, and some can have visual or sensory symptoms with little or no head pain. This variability is why it is better to describe what actually happened than to force an episode into a familiar checklist. Note whether the pain started suddenly or built up, whether resting changed it, and whether nausea, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, neck discomfort or concentration problems appeared before, during or after the pain. The broader overview of migraine symptoms can help with language for this conversation, but it cannot determine the cause for an individual.

Menstrual timing, skipped meals, changes in sleep, stress, caffeine, alcohol, bright lights, smells and weather changes are often discussed as possible triggers, but they are not universal rules. A trigger is most useful when it recurs in a personal record, not when it is guessed from one difficult day. For example, a late night followed by a missed breakfast and a long screen-heavy commute may cluster around an attack, yet that does not show which factor mattered. Look for patterns across several entries and bring them to a clinician. The aim is not to avoid every normal activity; it is to understand your own pattern well enough to make a realistic care plan. [1] [2]

A concise headache diary turns a hard-to-recall experience into information a clinician can use. Start with the date and time you first felt different, then separately record when pain began, peaked and eased. Give the pain a plain-language description—throbbing, pressure-like, stabbing, one-sided, both-sided, around an eye—and say what made it better or worse. Add associated symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light or sound, visual changes, tingling, dizziness, speech changes, sleep disruption and missed activities. If you use medicine, record the product, time taken and whether it helped, without changing doses on the basis of a website. Frequent painkiller use can itself make headaches harder to manage; the NHS advises not taking painkillers on more than two days a week for this reason. [1]

The diary should be short enough that you will actually keep it. A note on a phone or a paper calendar is fine. Add context such as meals, hydration, sleep, menstrual timing where relevant, stress, travel, exercise, caffeine and alcohol, but do not assume every entry contains a cause. Also make a note of any new medication, recent illness or injury. Take the record to a GP or another suitably qualified clinician if headaches are frequent, severe, changing, lasting longer than usual, difficult to control, or interrupting work and daily life. For a decision focused on emergency care, use When should I go to hospital for a migraine?—and use local emergency services immediately for the red flags above.