Stress plagues students, leads to headaches
Life. Stress. Headaches.
The three sometimes seem to be interconnected. Life can be
stressful. Stress can cause headaches.
Tension-type is the most common headache, caused by muscle
tension in the neck, scalp and shoulders. These headaches are
characterized by a nagging pain in the back of the head where the
neck and skull meet.
These headaches can be triggered both by physical stress, such
as eye strain or bad posture, and emotional stress.
“When we perceive something as stressful or worrisome, we
activate our fight or flight response, and one of the things that
happens is generalized muscle tenseness, which, over time, can
create muscle pain, which sometimes leads to headaches,” said
Jenifer Thomas, a graduate student assistant with the University
Counseling Center’s Stress Management Program.
According to www.headache-help.org, 70 to 90 percent of people
suffer from tension headaches occasionally.
Suzanne Simons, executive director of the National Headache
Foundation, said sometimes tension headaches are caused by a sort
of stress “let-down,” when people finally get a break from
stress.
“Some people work through stress really well and a lot of times
people make it through the week, and then on the weekends they get
headaches,” Simons said.
Weekend tension headaches can also be triggered by staying out
late or sleeping in later than is normal during the week, because
this strays from the sleep cycle the body is used to.
Most experts advise against taking over-the-counter medication
regularly to combat tension headaches.
Gerald McIntosh of the Center for Neuro Rehabilitation Services
in Fort Collins, said taking pain medication on a regular basis can
cause chronic daily headaches and medicine-rebound headaches.
“When the medicine wears off, the headache will come back,”
McIntosh said. “It just becomes more chronic and more
troublesome.”
Thomas said medicine should be avoided because, while it may
relieve the pain temporarily, it is not fixing the stress that is
the headaches’ root cause.
“You could be taking Advil for months trying to get rid of your
headaches, but unless you start thinking about how stress is
contributing to them you might be doing it for a long period of
time,” she said.
McIntosh said an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen is the
best bet for those who decide to take medication.
Instead of popping pain pills, experts suggest first pinpointing
the source of stress.
“Recognizing what it is that is your trigger is the most
important thing,” Simons said. “Stress in small doses can be good,
but you need to recognize when you cross the line.”
She recommends keeping a headache diary to identify when
headaches are most likely to occur and what causes them.
There are also ways to keep a tension headache from growing
after the pain has already begun to develop.
Relaxation techniques such as controlled diaphragmatic
breathing, guided visualization and progressive muscle relaxation,
which involves actively tensing and releasing the muscles, are
recommended.
“Another style is body scanning, searching your body for any
kind of tension you might be having and just letting it go, reduce
that tension,” Thomas said. “Becoming aware of the tension you
might be holding in your neck or head or face is a big step.”
Stretching, self-massage, exercise and a hot shower are also
good tension-relievers.
Simons said an easy way to combat an oncoming headache is simply
to get away from the stressful situation or environment.
“If you’re hunched over your computer writing a paper or
something, get up, move around, stretch, take a little break and
come back,” she said.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.