It's Headache Season
If you notice more headaches as the seasons change, it's not all in your mind. While the transition to fall often brings stuffy noses for allergy sufferers, many don't realize that it's also a prime time for more headaches.
Several key factors make autumn more headache-inducing. First, over 70% of headache sufferers say extreme changes in weather and barometric pressure, like those that occur during the fall, are at least partially to blame. Significant pressure swings can irritate your nerves when the pressure in your sinuses doesn't adjust to match what's happening outside (similar to when your ears pop during a flight). In addition, decreasing temperatures can trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain. Those changes may cause swelling that leads to increased head pain.
While the changing weather is a big culprit, other factors can cause headaches as well. Let's take a look at a few headache types and their triggers.
Types of Headaches & Triggers
. Though high pollen and mold counts can trigger headaches, there are other environment-based triggers, some of which are more common during fall months. Headaches can also be brought on by bright light, humidity, increased wind, storms and intense smells like cologne.
. If you drank more coffee than usual this week to get through that work project, you could be paying for it later. Caffeine contracts the blood vessels but those expand again once the stimulant wears off. This can sometimes trigger a pounding headache.
. If you've ever woken up with a headache (not attributed to alcohol consumption), it might've been the cluster variety. The causes of this particular ailment are unknown, but it's believed to be related to sleep cycles. Symptoms include pain on one side of the head, usually around the eye.
. Did you skip lunch today? Low blood sugar or dehydration may lead some to develop headaches.
. Headaches can be tied to hormonal fluctuations, especially in women. Estrogen and progesterone fall to low levels before menstrual cycles, but hormones also fluctuate due to pregnancy, menopause, and birth control pills.
. Headaches can be triggered by altitude, hormones, hunger, stress, weather, bright lights and smells. Foods such as aged cheeses, red wine, processed foods and artificial sweeteners like sucralose can also cause these headaches. Migraines symptoms might include vomiting, nausea and sensitivity to light or scents. Some begin with "auras," or warning signs about 30 minutes before pain begins. Auras often look like blind spots or floating zigzags in vision.
. A tension headache is a dull, non-pounding headache felt across the forehead area. Though there is some debate about the cause, triggers are poor posture, eye strain, stress, depression and anxiety.
Tracking Your Headaches
Keep a headache diary. When you experience a headache, write down the date, the time the headache began and ended, symptoms and potential triggers the 24 hours before the onset. For example, if you got your morning latte with sugar-free syrup instead of what you usually order, and your day ended in a migraine, you might be able to eliminate that from your diet to see if that's the trigger. If you're looking for a digital tracker, consider apps like Migraine Monitor, Migraine Buddy and N1-Headache App.
When to See Your Provider
If you have not discussed your headaches with your doctor or your headache symptoms change, it's important to contact your provider. Discuss whether the frequency or severity has increased, headaches hinder your ability to do daily activities, or take medications several days per week but aren't experiencing relief. If headaches result from head trauma, or you experience slurred speech, vision loss, confusion or loss of balance with your headaches, seek emergency care as soon as possible.
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