When a headache hits, you wish it to go away. Painful, throbbing pain could be debilitating and lead to missed appointments, work, or time with family and friends.
Regardless of whether you suffer from migraines, tension headaches, or cluster headaches (see “Is it your headache?“), you might have the option to scale back their frequency by identifying what brings them on. Here's a take a look at essentially the most common triggers for every of a majority of these headaches.
Stress
Stress may cause tight muscles within the shoulders and neck, which regularly result in tension headaches. When tension headaches are frequent, the pain within the shoulder and neck muscles is perceived by the brain as a headache.
Hunger itself can trigger a migraine or tension headache. But eating certain foods can trigger migraines. This could be only one form of food — corresponding to beans or nuts — or many foods, corresponding to avocados, bananas, cheese, chocolate, citrus, herring, dairy products and onions. Foods processed with nitrates, nitrites, yellow food dyes, or monosodium glutamate could be particularly problematic.
Alcohol consumption
Alcohol is a typical migraine trigger. For some people, just a few ounces of red wine is all it takes to trigger a headache, although any form of alcohol generally is a trigger. It's unclear whether the alcohol itself is in charge or whether one other ingredient within the drink is causing the issue.
Environment
Environmental aspects corresponding to strong light, smoke, humidity, strong odors, or cold weather are related to migraine headaches. People with cluster headaches often note that their headaches occur with certain seasonal changes.
Hormones
Changes in estrogen levels are related to migraines in women, and ladies suffer from migraines more often than men. Menstruation could also be related to migraine in younger ladies. The various levels of estrogen during perimenopause can sometimes trigger migraines in women who've never experienced them before. Estrogen therapy may trigger migraines. Menopause seems to eliminate migraines in most girls.
Caffeine withdrawal
If you often eat caffeine in coffee or tea, stopping suddenly can trigger migraines. This could also be because caffeine causes blood vessels to constrict. Without caffeine, blood vessels widen and dilate with each heartbeat — a significant reason behind migraines.
Lack of sleep
Lack of sleep has been linked to migraines and tension headaches. For individuals with migraines, sleep can often stop an attack or no less than reduce the intensity of the pain.
Is it your headache?
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what are you able to do
Understanding your headache triggers can make it easier to avoid future headaches. But identifying triggers could be difficult, especially if you have got multiple (like many sorts of food). Try keeping a diary to notice the day, time, symptoms, and circumstances surrounding the headache (what did you eat? where did it occur?).
If avoiding triggers isn't enough to maintain headaches at bay, refer to your doctor. There are many prescription medications in addition to pill-free treatments (acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback, leisure therapy) that may also help reduce the frequency of headaches.
And you'll have to go one step further: be sure you get enough sleep, exercise, eat a healthy food plan, limit alcohol intake, and reduce stress. A headache is a hypersensitive condition, so you wish balance in your system to fight the triggers.
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