Annoying, but rarely serious
Headaches are a typical ailment that everyone suffers from time to time. It can be pretty annoying, but luckily the cause is almost never serious. Five common culprits.
1. Weekend
Some people have no problems during the week, but invariably get a pain in their head on the weekend. That may have to do with your coffee consumption. If you drink one cup after the other during the week, but don’t do so on the weekend, you can get so-called withdrawal headaches. In addition, you may be sleeping in, causing the first cup of coffee to take too long. Sleeping longer, eating later and experiencing less stress can also contribute to the development of ‘weekend headache’.
Coffee isn’t the only drink that can lead to weekend headaches, by the way. Other drinks that contain caffeine can also have this effect. For example, tea, cola and energy drinks. As soon as you drink something with caffeine again, the headache usually goes away.
2. Painkillers
If you have been taking painkillers regularly to combat your headaches for a while, they can actually have the opposite effect. You don’t even have to take large amounts of painkillers for this, the point is that you often reach for a paracetamol, NSAID or triptan over a period of weeks. You will get a headache if you do not take anything for a while. This so-called drug-dependent headache comes on top of the ‘normal’ headache.
The only cure for drug-induced headaches is to stop taking painkillers. Your headache can then worsen for a few days to weeks, as your body needs some time to get used to it. Try to keep it up anyway. There are no drugs that help with drug-dependent headaches.
3. Flu and Cold
The flu is not only associated with complaints such as sore throat, fever and muscle aches. Often you also quickly suffer from a pounding head. You don’t even have to be infected with a flu virus to get a headache. You can also get a headache if you have a simple cold, a stuffy nose or if you cough a lot.
You may feel quite miserable, but the good news is that both the flu and the common cold go away on their own. Antibiotics are of no use, because they work against bacteria, but cannot kill viruses. A painkiller such as paracetamol helps best against fever and headaches.
4. Insufficient ventilation
Pets, plants, cooking smells, the washing machine and the shower, but also people produce moisture and dirt in the house. In a home where too little fresh air enters, molds and house dust mites are more likely to develop. Poor ventilation can cause headaches. In addition, it sometimes causes other problems, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, cough or a chronic cold.
Opening a window for half an hour is too short. For good ventilation, you must continuously open sufficient grilles and (flap) windows. In addition, extra air after cooking, showering, sleeping and activities such as painting.
Do you think you have a headache or other health problems due to the climate in your home? Your GP or the GGD can advise you on how to improve this.
5. Bad vision
If you are actually nearsighted or farsighted, but do not (yet) wear glasses or contact lenses, you will get a headache. You will then strain your eyes to see clearly, which costs a lot of energy. During the day or while you’re reading, that’s a headache. This can also happen if you used to see fine but need reading glasses due to your age.
Do you have frequent headaches and see distant objects a bit blurry? Or do you have to make more and more effort to read small print? Then have your eyes measured at an optician. Even if you already have glasses or contact lenses, it is important to have your eyes tested annually.
And further…
The above list is certainly not exhaustive. Many more things can be the cause of a headache. Including these twelve surprising headache triggers.
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