Get Rid Of Headaches With These Simple Tips
You feel as though your hat's too tight-only you're not wearing a hat. The ache radiates around your head, making you close your eyes and reach for the bridge of your nose-and then for a painkiller.
Sound familiar? Then you've had a tension headache. Three times more common than migraines, tension headaches are what we think of as normal headaches. They strike 40% of us every year.
The name may throw you, because this pain isn't necessarily caused by the kind of tension you're probably thinking of. Stress can bring these headaches on, especially if you tense your muscles when you're feeling anxious.
But, in fact, tension headaches got their name because they seem to be related to muscular tension-from the clenched jaw you get when you're caught in a traffic jam the size of a small city, to the aching shoulders from that corkscrew position you curl into when you're on the phone. Muscular tension can have other causes too, from bad office lighting to a bad mattress.
But like many other modern ills, tension headaches can be cured, no matter what their cause. We've assembled a few tricks and tactics, both from America's leading experts and other headache sufferers like you, that will not only bring you fast relief from these skull-busters, but help you prevent them too.
The Birth of a Headache
As common as they are, tension headaches aren't well understood. Most researchers think taut muscles play a role in this pain, but it's a chicken-and-egg question: Which comes first? "The muscles in your head (sometimes neck and shoulders too) are in spasm during a headache, but we don't know if this is the main cause, or if it's the result of something that happens in the brain to start the spasm," explains Alexander Mauskop, MD, director of the New York Headache Center and associate professor of clinical neurology at the SUNY-Health Science Center of Brooklyn, NY.
What is known is that when those tense, spasming muscles press against the nerves and blood vessels in your head and neck, the result is pain. Learn to relax those muscles, and you can stop the pain and prevent the tension in the first place.
Get in Position
How your body is positioned can put your head in a world of hurt. Dr. Mauskop explains it this way: "Tension in one part of the body tends to spread. You may not feel it in your back or neck, but you may get a headache because that's your weak spot."
Spending hours with the phone clamped in the crook of your neck, typing at a computer with your shoulders hunched like Quasimodo, or making long commutes crammed in your car are typical scenarios that lead to tense muscles-and migraine headaches.
Correcting these problems involves principles of ergonomics, the science of human engineering. Good ergonomics means doing what you can-from using the right equipment to maintaining good posture-to spare your body the stress of repeated motions or awkward positions.
Get Active
A powerful stress reliever, exercise is one of Dr. Mauskop's first suggestions for headache sufferers. "Regular aerobic exercise relaxes your muscles, improves circulation, and generally makes you feel better," he says. "Exercising regularly, three or four times a week, will improve your chance of preventing headaches, if not completely stop them." The type of exercise is up to you. If you haven't exercised for a while, ease into it and get advice from your doctor before you start.
Use Your Head
Can your mind make your head feel better? Yes, says Douglas E. DeGood, PhD, author of The Head & Neck Pain Workbook (New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 1997). At the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Pain Management Center in Charlottesville, he teaches these tactics to headache sufferers.
Lead your body with your mind. "One of the things we know is that if you can imagine a sensation, the body tends to follow," Dr. DeGood says. Sometimes this works against us: Stuck in traffic, we imagine the bad consequences of showing up late for work and our muscles tense up, opening the door to a tension headache. Dr. DeGood suggests using this principle in a positive way-relaxing the mind so that the body will follow, which reduces tension and makes migraine headaches less likely. Tip: To learn how to do this, try the "warm hands" exercise.
Check up on yourself
Like other experts we talked to, Dr. DeGood lays a lot of the blame for headaches squarely on our desks. "We work in a kind of 'head down' society, with our head over our desk or our books," he says. "We get rigidly focused on the computer screen. And that can put tension into the neck, jaw, and scalp." To counteract this problem, Dr. DeGood suggests regular self-checks to identify and eliminate tension before it causes trouble. The checks work like this:
- Slow your breathing. Take a few slow deep breaths to calm yourself.
- Focus on your jaw. Let your jaw droop a little and let the sides of your head relax.
- Do these same exercises to relieve any tension in your neck or above the ears.
Doing these regularly can work wonders, says Dr. DeGood. "We've found that college students who are tense during exam times can prevent a lot of headaches if they do these self-checks." Tip: To remind yourself to check for tension during a long drive, set the alarm hourly on your wristwatch. Every time the alarm goes off, consciously relax your shoulders by dropping them, then pull your shoulder blades together several times.
Get Outside Help for Migraine Headaches
Treat yourself to massage therapy. Massage is not only a powerful muscle relaxant, it's also a stress reliever that many people use to prevent migraine headaches. To find qualified practitioners in your area, call the American Massage Therapy Association (847-864-0123). During a headache, self-massage can help.
Try an alternate route. Many complementary therapies have what it takes to head off head-aches. "Some are particularly good because they combine exercise-muscle stretching-with mental focus," says Dr. DeGood. That combination relaxes you physically and mentally. Examples are yoga, which involves postures, breath control, and meditation; and tai chi, which teaches slow, rhythmic movements.
What's Hurting Your Head?
Find out by identifying what's triggering them in the first place (great advice for all headache types). Keep a diary in which you note the date, time, place, severity, what you were doing at the time, and what relief measures you took. For women, you may want to include where in your menstrual cycle the headaches occur.
Here are some possible migraine triggers:
Skipping meals. "A majority of people will get a headache if they don't eat regularly," says Alexander Mauskop, MD, director of the New York Headache Center and associate professor of clinical neurology at the SUNY-Health Science Center of Brooklyn, NY.
Lack of sleep. This is another common trigger, since Americans are notoriously sleep deprived.
Lighting. Some people get headaches from fluorescent lights, says Dr. Mauskop. Inadequate lighting can lead to headaches by causing eyestrain.
Food. Though it's most common with migraines, some people find that certain foods, such as chocolate and MSG, trigger headaches.
Caffeine. If caffeine is your favorite food group, you may go into withdrawal if you don't get it. That can be expressed as a headache. Solution: Taper back on the caffeine so your body won't crave it so much.
Other possibilities: While some headache triggers are common and obvious, others are quite individual. For example, some people are sensitive to odors or changes in the weather.
Last updated Jan 4/07
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