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Stress and Headaches

 
If you are feeling stress and headaches appear you may and not even realize that it is the stress that is causing the headache. A headache can be a fast and easy sign of stress. It can also be quite annoying when you are trying to focus on something important. You may have heard these types of headaches called “tension headaches” though they are the results of the same problem; too much stress.

While major life changes such as a birth, death, and so forth can be huge stressors, a stress head is quite common and it does not have to have a large stressor associated with it. For example, you are at work and are continuously stressing over your job duties. You may not feel the stress acutely; it may just be a mild flight or fight feeling (you would like to escape the work, but instead have to muscle through it), but the longer that feeling persists, the more likely you are to develop a headache from it. Tense muscles in your jaw, face, and shoulders can be the cause of your headache and also make it worse, and certain hormones put forth during stressful times can slightly alter your brain chemistry, which may also contribute to stress headaches.

You may decide to take some medication to help relieve your headache. Sometimes this may work, but if you continue to stress after taking the medication, you may not feel any relief because you are not helping to reduce the cause of the headache. The medication can only go so far; you need to learn to allow it to go all the way. Learning methods of reducing stress and headaches can be stopped before they start, or before they are already in full swing, when you have the time you can use a stress reducing technique to help ease them.