Common Causes of Headaches That You Can Fix
Are you one of those people who have multiple mild to moderate headaches per week? The headaches aren’t as severe as a full-blown migraine but are still bothersome? If so, there could be something in your daily life that is contributing to those headaches.
Headaches are divided into 2 broad categories which are Primary or Secondary headaches. Secondary headaches are those that are caused by another issue, such as a sinus headache from being congested or a generalized headache from a viral cold or allergies. Primary headaches are those that aren’t caused by any specific sickness or disease. Some examples of primary headaches are migraines or tension headaches.
Primary headaches are sometimes caused or worsened by habits in the daily lives of many of us. Here are some common triggers of ordinary headaches:
- Dehydration – one of the most common causes of headaches is mild dehydration. When our body is not adequately hydrated there will be a fluid & electrolyte imbalance which can lead to a headache.
- Alcohol – the most common reason that alcohol causes headaches are due to its action as a diuretic leading to mild dehydration. For wine drinkers, tannins are plant chemicals in wine that is especially noted to cause headaches.
- Poor Sleep – a study done in 2011 found that lack of sleep increases the production of proteins in the body that can cause chronic pain.
- Poor Posture – constant bad posture causes tension in the upper back, neck, and shoulders which can lead to a headache.
- Stress – high levels of stress can cause tension headaches. Also having alternating periods of low stress and high stress causes our body to be constantly changing between low levels and high levels of stress hormones.
- Teeth Grinding – also known as bruxism, will causes headaches due to the muscles of your jaw having to contract through much of the day and night.
Joshua White PA-C