Waking up in the morning with a headache can be quite miserable and if you begin your day with a headache it is most likely to cause a lot of discomfort. Morning headache is a tension-type headache I which the patient wakes up with nagging pain. As per research, 1 out of every 13 individuals suffers from this type of headache.

Causes of Morning headache:

Some of the main causes of this type of headache include lack of quality sleep, sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea, tension, sleeping in an odd posture and sleeping on a new bed. Certain ailments such as migraine and high blood pressure can also lead to the development of morning headache. Excessive intake of alcohol, insomnia and musculoskeletal disorders can also trigger morning headache.

Other causes of this type of headache are specific ailments such as sinus, flu, cold, depression, eye strain, smoking, prolonged hours of work, sitting or sleeping in an odd posture, nasal congestion, excessive traveling and consumption of caffeine in excess.

In case, you wake up with a headache quite often, it is essential for you to visit a doctor and get a thorough check up done as it may indicate an underlying ailment. If you leave your headache untreated, it might affect your productivity at work and give rise to various other problems such as the inability to concentrate, blurred vision, restlessness, irritability etc.

Managing Morning headache:

Maintain a diary and keep track of the dates on which you have woken up with a headache.

Make a note of the frequency, duration and severity of the headache.

Make a note of various pointers such as if your sleeping position was uncomfortable, did you overstrain yourself the previous day, did you sleep too much or too less, note your sleep timings, the time at which you had your last meal, were you tensed or under stress, what were weather conditions like or if you had taken any medications.

You can take analgesics such as aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen for relief. But if the pain persists you must visit a doctor.