10 headache triggers – and how to avoid them

Cluster headaches

Cluster headaches

It’s not just stress and nasty colds that cause headaches. Cleaning your home or sleeping in late can cause them too. We reveal 10 headache triggers and how to fix them.

1. Relaxing after stress

You put in 10-hour days from Monday to Friday and you feel fine, only to wake up after a lie-in on Saturday with a pounding headache. Why is that?

It’s because as the tension of the week subsides, your levels of stress hormones drop, which causes a rapid release of neurotransmitters (the brain’s chemical messengers). These send out impulses to blood vessels to constrict and then dilate, which causes a headache.

How to fix it: Avoid the temptation to sleep in at weekends. More than eight hours’ sleep at a time can bring on a headache. Introduce some relaxation time, such as a yoga class, into your working week, rather than squeezing it all into the weekend.

2. Pent-up anger

When you’re angry, muscles in the back of your neck and scalp tense up, causing a tight band-like sensation around your head. This is a sign of a tension headache.

How to fix it: When you start feeling angry, breathe deeply and slowly. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, This should relax your head and neck muscles.

Read more about how to control your anger.

3. Poor posture

Poor posture causes tension in your upper back, neck and shoulders, which can lead to a headache. Typically, the pain throbs in the base of the skull and sometimes flashes into the face, especially the forehead.

How to fix it: Avoid sitting or standing in one position for a long period of time. Sit up straight and support your lower back. Consider using a special headset if you spend a lot of time on the phone, as holding a handset between your head and shoulder can strain muscles and cause headaches.

You could also see a physical therapist, such as an osteopath or Alexander technique practitioner. They may be able to help you identify and correct any posture problems.

Read more about osteopathy and the Alexander technique.

4. Perfume

If you think housework is giving you a headache, you could be right. Household cleaners, along with perfumes and fragranced air fresheners, contain chemicals that can bring on headaches.

How to fix it: If you’re susceptible to headaches brought on by certain smells, avoid heavy perfumes and strong-smelling soaps, shampoos and conditioners. Use fragrance-free air fresheners and household cleaners, and keep your doors and windows open as much as possible at home. If a colleague’s perfume is bothering you, put a fan on your desk at work.

5. Bad weather

If you’re prone to getting headaches, you could find that grey skies, high humidity, rising temperatures and storms can all bring on head pain.

Pressure changes that cause weather changes are thought to trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain. This irritates nerves, leading to a headache.

How to fix it: There’s not much you can do to change the weather. However, by looking at the forecast, you can predict when you’re likely to have a headache and take a preventative painkiller a day or two in advance.

Check the weather forecast here.

6. Grinding teeth

Grinding your teeth at night (the medical name is bruxism) makes your jaw muscle contract, causing a dull headache.

How to fix it: Your dentist can fit you with a mouth guard to protect your teeth while you sleep. They cost around £50.

Read more about teeth grinding.

7. Bright lights

Bright lights and glare, especially if flickering, can induce migraines. This is because bright and flickering lights boost the levels of certain chemicals in the brain, which then activate the migraine centre.

How to fix it: Sunglasses are great at reducing light intensity, and you can wear them inside and outside. Polarised lenses can also help to reduce glare.

At work, adjust your computer monitor or attach a glare screen. You may be able to turn off certain lights or move them. If you can’t, change where you sit in the office. Fluorescent lighting tends to flicker, so if you’re able to, substitute it with some other form of lighting.

8. Food triggers

Your turkey and cheese sandwich and small bar of dark chocolate might be a tasty lunch, but beware of the headache that could follow it. All these foods contain chemicals that can bring on a migraine. Other culprits include aged cheeses like stilton and brie, diet fizzy drinks, and processed meats and fish.

How to fix it: Keep a migraine trigger diary and once you suspect a certain food may be the cause of your headaches, eliminate it from your diet for a couple of months to see if you get fewer headaches.

If you’re concerned about avoiding any food-related trigger factor, see your GP or practice nurse or ask to be referred to a dietician for specialist advice.

Remember to eat regularly, because skipping meals can bring on a headache.

The Migraine Trust offers an online migraine trigger diary here.

9. Sex headaches

It’s a standing joke that headaches are used as an excuse to avoid sex, but for many men and women coital headaches that come on at the height of passion are a real and distressing problem.

Doctors think sex headaches are due to pressure building up in the head and neck muscles. The headaches can happen during foreplay or just before orgasm, and can last for a few minutes or up to an hour.

How to fix it: They’re inconvenient, but these headaches are usually harmless and don’t mean you have to avoid sex. Take a painkiller a few hours beforehand to block the headache.

10. Ice cream

Do you get a sharp, stabbing pain in your forehead when you bite into an ice cream cone? Then you’re susceptible to ice cream headaches, caused by cold material moving across the roof of your mouth and the back of your throat. Ice lollies and slushy frozen drinks have the same effect.

How to fix it: The good news is that ice cream headaches don’t need treatment. In fact, they’re over in a flash, rarely lasting more than a minute or two.

Headaches: From Day to Day to Migraine Pain – and some Easy Treatments

A few years back headaches were the pain of my life.

Often stress related but always painful. So as part of our on-going pain management blogs I thought I would share this brilliant infographic for Mount Sinai Hospital!

Headache: Everything You Need To Know
Source: Mount Sinai Hospital

Pain – everything you need to know about headaches

Pain – everything you need to know about headaches!

One of the aims of this blog is to provide our readers with information about common and not so common medical complaints.

As headaches are so common (over 90% of us get them) that I thought sharing this infographic would be of interest and use to my readers.

It also has same great suggestions for simple remedies of headaches.

If you have any other ideas please do share in our comments section below.

Many thanks in advance!


Headache: Everything You Need To Know
Source: Mount Sinai Hospital

Hard Day? Well try this natural headache recipe!

A few years ago I used to suffered from really bad headaches.

A lot of this was due to stress both at home and work. Our son was being diagnosed with autism spectrum condition so for a few years life was pretty tough.

So I tried lots of different tricks to get rid of the stress. (Cutting out junk food and taking up cycling really helped). So I thought I’d share this infographic with you.

If you do try it it would be great if you could share how well it worked in he comments box below.

Thanks very much in advance.

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Migraine Awareness Week. Do you suffer from migraines and what affect do they have on your life?


Migraine Awareness Week

Migraine Awareness Week

This week is Migraine Awareness Week.

I first really became aware of migraines when my mother start to be effected when she went through menopause. I’d estimate that she last one to two days a months from migraines. So clear it is a matter of great concern.

Interestingly Migraine Action last year published some very useful research on the impact of migraines on people in the UK.

They said:

Affecting careers

Over half (51%) stated that their headaches / migraines stop them reaching their full potential at work
A third (33%) have decided not to apply for a new job because of their headaches / migraine or say they believe that colleagues are not supportive when they have a headache / migraine (35%)
30% say that headaches / migraines have prevented them from holding down a regular job. This increases to nearly half of those with chronic migraine (48%)
Nearly a quarter (23%) are worried about losing their job because of their headache / migraine
Nearly a fifth (19%) have lost a job in the past because of their headache / migraine. This increases to nearly a third (32%) for those with chronic migraine


Affecting social lives

63% state that their headaches / migraines stop them having ‘a good night out’
Over half (55%) often have to cancel on friends because of the headaches / migraines
Over a third (36%) feel unable to make long term plans for social activities because of their headaches / migraines
Nearly a fifth (19%) have fewer friends because of migraines. This increases to 35% for those with chronic migraine

Affecting family life

Around half feel they are missing out on a normal family life because of their headaches / migraines and that they are sometimes a burden on their family (both 47%)
Headaches and migraine stop those affected spending as much time as they’d like with family (45%)
43% have missed out on an important family occasion, such as a wedding or anniversary, because of their headaches / migraines

Affecting personal relationships

A fifth (20%) are worried that headaches / migraines will drive them apart from their partners
A third say their headaches / migraines can cause arguments with their partner (33%) and put a great strain on their love life (32%)
43% often avoid sex because of their headaches / migraines”

Now this is pretty strong stuff and we wondered to what extent it is true in your case.

It would be great if you share your experiences in the comment boxes below.

You might like to think in terms of the following questions:-

a) Do you suffer from migraines and for how long have you been suffering from migraines?
b) What treatments for migraines have you used and how effective were their treatments?
c) What were the effects of migraines on your social life?
d) What were the effects of migraines on your working life?
e) What were the effects of migraines on your family life?
f) What advice would you give to somebody who has just started to suffer from migraines?

Anything you what to share will be of great interest to our readers.

Many thanks in advance!