Stress headaches are also known as tension headaches, tension-type headaches, muscle contraction headaches or chronic non-progressive headaches. In the headaches the pain originates in the tightened muscles of the neck, eyes back or other muscle groups of the body. Tension headaches are considered to be the most common type of headaches affecting almost 30- 80% of adults at some point of time. Women are more vulnerable to tension headaches than men.

How frequent are these and how long do they last generally?

Depending upon the frequency of the attack the stress headaches vary between two key types:

Episodic: These occur less than 15 days in a month.

Chronic: These occur for more than 15 days in a month.

While stress headaches might last from minutes to days, months or even years, generally a single episode lasts from 4 to 6 hours.

Symptoms of Stress Headache:

The pain associated with stress headache is either constant or throbbing.

Stress headache pain is bilateral which means that it can be felt on both sides of the head at the same time.

The pain is accompanied by fatigue, inability to concentrate and irritability.

The pain ranges from mild to severe and some patients complain that their head is being squeezed in a vice.

The headache lingers on even when a person has woken up from deep sleep.

An individual with stress headache often has difficulty in falling or staying asleep.

Stress headache can also be accompanied by a feeling of dizziness.

Causes of stress headache:

The different precipitating factors of stress headache are as follows:

As the name suggests, stress is the main cause of this type of headache.

Generally stress headache occurs mainly in the afternoons when one is tired after the long stressful hours of work.

Stress headaches also happen due to seep deprivation. In case you sleep or work for long in an uncomfortable and stressful position the headache is triggered.

Hunger and irregular meal timings also lead to stress headaches.

Eyestrain for any reason also causes stress headache.

Caffeine withdrawal also results in stress headaches.