Looking at the the various types of headaches and sufferers it should not be surprising that the causes of headaches are equally diverse. There are many possible reasons for a headache including underlying medical conditions such as the thankfully rare instances of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumors. But the most commonly experienced headaches also have generally common causes.
In a lot of instances simple eyestrain such as is experienced when working too long at the computer can lead to a headache. At other times, infected sinuses resulting from an allergy or head cold can be the cause. Overuse of certain medicines can also lead to a headache.
Though the precise cause is not always known, narrowing of the blood vessels is also thought to be the culprit in some cases. Pain sensitive nerve fibers in the head line the blood vessel walls and when they contract the nerves are activated and send signals to the brain. Ironically, the brain cannot feel pain because it has no pain sensitive nerve cells within it and cluster or tension-type headaches are the result.
But blood vessels can dilate as well as contract and when they do so one theory at least holds that migraines and cluster headaches can be the result. Current research proposes that there are also other much more important factors at work when it comes to migraines.
Tension or more accurately tension-type headaches can arise from other sources such as tension in the muscles of the shoulder, neck and even the jaw. Individuals who have experienced TMJ disorder which is a condition resulting from tension of the temporomandibular joint causing the jaw to tighten against the skull will be familiar with this.
In more serious cases headaches can result from some underlying disease and these are often referred to as 'secondary headaches'. The list of underlying diseases that can cause headaches is lengthy and includes everything from irritable bowel syndrome to scarlet fever.
In many cases environmental factors also play an important part. Carbon monoxide poisoning such as that resulting from the gas produced by many water heaters or a car exhaust can create very severe headaches and in fact headaches are one of the principle symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Other causes include allergies, lead poisoning and food poisoning.
Even where food is not itself toxic as would be the case where food is carrying a bacterial infection some people may be sensitive to foods which will not affect the general population. Such common foods as cheese and chocolate can cause headaches in some people as will red wine, caffeine and some preservatives.
But posture, position and a number of other controllable factors may well be amongst the most common causes. As a growing number of people are working with computers on a daily basis so we are seeing more neck tension, jaw stress and eyestrain.
Almost nine out of ten headaches are common tension headaches that are normally the result of one or more of the factors detailed above. In other words in the overwhelming majority of cases the cure for your headache is easy and is within your control.
Author Resource:-
TheMigraineHeadacheCenter.com provides a wide range of information about headaches including cluster headaches and migraine headaches
![[Valid RSS feed]](/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
