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But even the mildest of headaches can throw you off your game. We spoke to two doctors for the scoop about the different types of headaches we might experience, plus how to feel better fast.
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What Is a Headache, Exactly?
“Headache” is a large umbrella term for any sort of pain in any area of or all of the head, ranging from dull to sharp. Each headache type tends to vary based on location, intensity, frequency and cause.
Medication, hormonal shifts, hunger, dehydration, depression, sleep apnea, excessive medication use and certain types of light can also lead to headaches.
“Patients with high stress are more likely to experience headaches. Stress can be a trigger for the most common types of headaches,” explainsHolly N. Thomas, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
They can also be hereditary,the Cleveland Clinic adds. Aheadache diarycan help determine what might be causing your personal headache symptoms. Apps like Manage My Pain can make this easy to track on the go.
The 4 Types of Headaches and How to Relieve Them
While there are actually more than 150 types of headaches,the Cleveland Clinic says, the following are the most common types of headaches Americans tend to experience.
1. Tension Headaches
About 1 in every 3 people experience tension headaches, theWHO estimates, which involve moderate tension on both sides or one side of the head, often near the temple area, plus possibly pain in the back of the head or upper neck. These headaches rarely involve vomiting or nausea, but they can be so common that those who suffer from them feel the aches every single day.
If you work at a desk with a computer, having a comfortable work setup can definitely help prevent tension headaches, Thomas advises.
“Dealing with stressin a healthy way, such as through mindfulness meditation, can also reduce the stress that might lead to a tension headache,” she says. (Psst … thesestress-fighting foodscan’t hurt, either!)
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2. Migraine Headaches
Migraines are the second most common type of headache—just after tension headaches—and about 12% of adults suffer from them, reports the Migraine Research Foundation. The intense, throbbing pain generally presents on one side of the head only, and lasts for a couple hours or up to three days. Sensitivity to light and sound and loss of appetite are fairly common symptoms, and some migraines are so severe that they lead to nausea or vomiting. Unfortunately, migraines can also partner with another one of the common headache types to occur as a “mixed headache” (for example, a migraine and tension headache).
Due to those hormones we mentioned, women make up 75% of total migraine sufferers,per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Eating a healthful diet and getting eight hours of sleep each night may also prevent migraines,” Thomas says. Supplementing with riboflavin and magnesium may also help. (As always, talk to your doctor before beginning any newdietary supplements.)
Other potentially beneficial migraine treatments include:
“You can use over-the-counter pain medications, like Tylenol, ibuprofen, naproxen or Excedrin to treat the pain as needed,” Yung says. “But try not to overuse it, otherwise you might be at risk for rebound headaches. When patients take pain medication too frequently, say, every day for weeks to months, the body reacts to this and it actually causes more headaches. This leads to a vicious cycle where frequent pain medication use causes more frequent headaches, which leads to the patient taking more pain medications, which worsens the rebound headaches.”
3. Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches come on quickly and tend to disappear fairly fast—this type of headache typically lasts 20 minutes to 3 hours. The tricky part is that cluster headaches sometimes occur every single day, and potentially multiple times during one day with similar levels and locations of pain each time. And they’re pretty much always the most painful type of headache. Cluster headaches are always one-sided,Stanford Health Care says, and might come packaged with a one stuffy nostril, a teary eye, a droopy eyelid or one larger pupil.
4. Secondary Headaches
While rare, secondary headaches might just be the most important type of headache to become aware of. They come on quickly and feel excruciatingly painful—if this ever sounds familiar, seek medical care immediately.
The Bottom Line
Headaches are very common and can often be treated at home with lifestyle changes and over-the-counter medicine. That said, “if you have fever, changes in your vision, a particularly severe headache or a headache that causes nausea and vomiting, you should see a doctor,” Thomas says. “Also, if you are having frequent headaches—more than one or two per week—you should also speak with a doctor.”
If your headaches are becoming much more frequent or interfering with your quality of life (perhaps you have to take a sick day from work or school, or miss book club because of your brain pain), contact your medical team, Yung adds.
Any headache that lasts longer than 72 hours without 4 or more hours of pain-free time in the interim is also a sign you should seek out your doc’s advice.
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