Headache causes: Eating THIS food could trigger the pain
HEADACHES affect more than ten million people in the UK on a regular basis, and there are some common key triggers.
Headaches: They regularly affect ten million people in the UK
Mostly they aren’t serious and can be easily treated.
However, in some cases they can be a sign of a more serious problem.
These are the main causes, according to the NHS.
1. Relaxing after a stressful period
Often, you won’t have a headache but develop one when you next relax.
For example, you can have a stressful working week and then wake up on Saturday with one.
It’s because as the tension subsides, your hormones drop, which causes a rapid release of neurotransmitters.
These chemical messengers send out impulses to blood vessels to constrict and then dilate, which can trigger a headache.
Headache causes: Most are harmless, but sometimes they are more serious
It’s because when you’re angry, the muscles in the back of your neck and scalp tense up, which causes a tight band-like sensation around your head.
2. Pent-up anger
This is known as a tension headache and is one of the more well-known causes.
It’s because when you’re angry, the muscles in the back of your neck and scalp tense up, which causes a tight band-like sensation around your head.
3. Bad posture
Poor posture causes tension in your upper back, neck and shoulders, which can lead to a headache.
The pain tends to throb in the base of the skull and sometimes flashes into the face, especially the forehead.
Cheese: A chemical in brie can be a trigger
4. Cleaning your home
Household cleaning products, and perfumes and fragranced air fresheners, contain headache-triggering chemicals.
5. Humid weather
Grey skies, high humidity, rising temperatures, and storms can all bring on headaches.
Pressure changes that cause weather changes are thought to trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain - this irritates nerves, leading to a headache.
Dr Rangan visits a mum with cluster headaches
Cleaning products: They contain a headache-triggering chemical
6. Grinding teeth
Known as bruxism, grinding your teeth at night makes your jaw muscle contract, potentially causing a dull headache.
7. Bright lights
Bright lights and glare, especially if flickering, can induce them.
This is because bright and flickering lights boost the levels of certain chemicals in the brain, which then activate the migraine centre.
8. Eating turkey and cheese
Headaches can be caused by certain chemicals in foods.
The main culprits are turkey, aged cheeses like stilton and brie, dark chocolate, diet fizzy drinks, processed meats and fish.
Additionally, eating very cold foods such as ice-cream and ice lollies can cause ‘brain freeze’.
Sex: Getting intimate can trigger one
9. Sex
For many people coital headaches come on at the height of passion.
It’s thought to be because of pressure building up in the head and neck muscles.
10. Something serious
In rare cases, headaches can be a symptom of conditions such as stroke, meningitis or a brain tumour.
Look out for if your headache occurs very suddenly and is severe, doesn’t go away and gets worse, or occurs after a severe head injury.
Additionally, if it's triggered suddenly by coughing, laughing, sneezing, changes in posture or physical exertion, this could be a concern.