What Are A Few Of The Frequent Causes Of Headaches?

This article about causes of headaches is appealing for those interested about this topic is written by Donald Saunders

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Looking at the variety of headaches and headache sufferers it should not come as a surprise that the causes of headaches are just as diverse. There are many possible causes for headaches including underlying medical problems such as the fortunately rare cases of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumors. However the most common headaches also have common causes.

In a lot of cases simple eyestrain such as that seen when working too long at the computer can lead to a headache. In other cases, a sinus infection resulting from a head cold or allergy can be the culprit. Taking certain prescription medicines can also produce a headache.

Despite the fact that the exact cause is not known in every instance, narrowing of the blood vessels is also thought to be the culprit in many cases. Pain sensitive nerve fibers in the head line the blood vessel walls and when they contract the nerves are activated and send signals to the brain. Ironically, the brain cannot feel pain because it has no pain sensitive nerve cells within it and tension-type or cluster headaches are the result.

However your blood vessels are able to dilate as well as contract and when they do so one theory at least holds that migraines and cluster headaches can be produced. Current research proposes that there are also other far more important factors at work when it comes to migraines.

Tension or more accurately tension-type headaches can result from other sources such as tension in the muscles of the shoulder, neck and even the jaw. People who have suffered from TMJ disorder which is a disorder resulting from tension of the temporomandibular joint causing the jaw to tighten against the skull will be all too familiar with this.

In serious cases headaches can result from an underlying disease and these are often referred to as 'secondary headaches'. The list of underlying conditions that can cause headaches is lengthy and will include everything from scarlet fever to irritable bowel syndrome.

In many cases environmental factors also play a significant role. Carbon monoxide poisoning such as that resulting from the gas produced by many water heaters or a car exhaust can result in very severe headaches and in fact a headache is one of the principle symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Other causes include allergies, lead poisoning and food poisoning.

Even when food is not itself toxic as will be the case with food contaminated with a bacterial infection certain people will be sensitive to foods that will not affect people in general. Such common foods as cheese and chocolate can cause headaches in some people as will certain preservatives, caffeine and red wine.

However position, posture and a number of other controllable factors can also be amongst the most common causes. As an increasing number of people are using computers on a daily basis so we are seeing more eyestrain, neck tension and jaw stress.

Almost nine out of ten headaches are common tension headaches which are usually the result of one or more of the factors detailed here. In other words in the vast majority of cases the cure is simple and is within your control.