Tension Headaches

A tension headache is the most common type of headache.

Tension headaches are dull pain, tightness, or pressure around your forehead or the back of your head and neck. Some people say it feels like a clamp squeezing the skull. Often called stress headaches, they’re the most common type for adults.

It can cause mild, moderate, or intense pain behind your eyes and in your head and neck. Some people say that a tension headache feels like a tight band around their forehead.

Most people who experience tension headaches have episodic headaches. These occur one or two times per month on average. However, tension headaches can also be chronic.

Chronic headaches affect about 3 percent of the U.S. population and include headache episodes that last for more than 15 days per month. Women are twice as likely as men to have tension headaches.

Causes of tension headaches:

Tension headaches are caused by muscle contractions in the head and neck regions.

These types of contractions can be caused by a variety of

foods
activities
stressors

Some people develop tension headaches after staring at a computer screen for a long time or after driving for long periods. Cold temperatures may also trigger a tension headache.

Other triggers of tension headaches include:

alcohol
eye strain
dry eyes
fatigue
smoking
a cold or flu
a sinus infection
caffeine
poor posture
emotional stress
decreased water intake
lack of sleep
skipping meals

Symptoms of a tension headache include:

dull head pain
pressure around the forehead
tenderness around the forehead and scalp

The pain is usually mild or moderate, but it can also be intense. In this case, you might confuse your tension headache with a migraine. This is a type of headache that causes throbbing pain on one or both sides of your head.

However, tension headaches don’t have all the symptoms of migraines, such as nausea and vomiting. In rare cases, a tension headache can lead to sensitivity to light and loud noise, similar to migraines.

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