Exercise headaches usually occur after strenuous and constant exercise sessions. While exercising has a number of benefits, over exercising can be extremely harmful for the body and headaches can result as an outcome of this. The various activities that are known to trigger these headaches are swimming, running, weightlifting, power training, tennis, hiking etc.

Exercise headaches are divided into two categories:

Primary Exercise headaches: These headaches are considered to be harmless as they do not have any underlying causes.

Secondary Exercise headaches: Secondary headaches are caused because of an underlying ailment or disorder which can at times be of serious nature such as hypertension, brain tumor etc.

As per research, one out of every 100 individuals is prone to having an exercise headache at some point of time in life. More than 50% of all exercise headaches are harmless in nature but some might indicate a more serious ailment.

Symptoms of Exercise headaches :

Some of the symptoms of these types of headaches include throbbing or pulsating pain in the head, forehead or skull, the headache usually begins after a rigorous exercise session and is bilateral in nature i.e. it tends to affect both sides of the head. In the case of secondary headaches the pain can be accompanied by various other symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, stiffness of the neck and increased sensitivity to light or sound.

Primary exercise headaches can last from 5 minutes to 48 hours, whereas secondary exercise headaches last from 24 hours to few days.

Treatment of Exercise headaches:

If you feel you are suffering from an exercise headache, you must visit a doctor and get your headache diagnosed. Treatment procedures for primary and secondary headaches vary depending upon the exact cause of the headache. General medications and over the counter (OTC) drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen sodium and aspirin come in handy if your headache is primary in nature. This type of headache also responds well to medication, acupressure, biofeedback, yoga, intake of a balanced diet, relaxation techniques and adequate amount of rest. Secondary exercise headaches are often serious in nature and require immediate medical attention.