Study Finds More Stress Equals More Headaches

A new study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 2014 annual meeting provides evidence for what many people who experience chronic headaches have long suspected — having more stress in your life leads to more headaches. Volunteers were surveyed about their stress levels and headaches for two years, four times per year, and rated how many headaches they had per month as well as their stress levels on a scale of zero to 100. For each type of headache reported (tension, migraine, migraine combined with tension, and unclassified), an increase in stress was associated with an increase in the number of headaches per month. The findings show that stress is a problem for everyone who suffers from headaches. The results of the study also emphasize the fact that stress can be a factor contributing to the onset of headache disorders — it accelerates the progression to chronic headaches, exacerbates headache episodes, and the headache experience itself can act as a stressor. To read more about this study, click here.