Chronic stress can trigger a tension headache, and if you’ve had it you know how daunting it is. It literally stops you in your tracks, you can’t function!
Tension headaches are a dull pain, tightness, or pressure around your forehead or at the back of your head and neck. Some people say it feels like a clamp squeezing the skull. Often called stress headaches, they’re the most common type of headaches for adults.
There’s not a single cause for them. These headaches are mostly triggered by stress; from work, school, family, friends, or other interactions/relationships.
High level of cortisol during stress causes this type of a headache through the accumulation of toxins, the retention of the sodium salts and dehydration or increase in intracranial blood pressure (blood pressure of the head).
If you’re experiencing this type of headaches, you can drink water to rehydrate and dilute the sodium salt in your body.
You can take pain medications, or apply the ice pack to the head, or take a cold shower to reduce stress.
Taking a nap also reduces the cortisol level in your brain; it allows the body to get rid of the toxins in the brain while you sleep.
Finally, eating foods that are rich in antioxidants helps to reduce the effects of oxygen radicals that can accumulate in your brain cells and cause damage that can lead to a headache. Make sure that the foods you eat have the nutrients you require; become a member, sign up for your free account!
