March 2, 2009 – Taking a nap to ease the pain of a tension headache may not be such a good strategy to adopt. This habit can affect the quality of sleep at night and turn into chronic insomnia, according to a small US clinical trial.
The study was conducted with a group of 32 women with tension headaches and another control group of 33 participants with mild headaches. The researchers analyzed the different means used by the two groups to relieve the pain caused by their headaches.
Tension headache is caused by the contraction of the muscles of the skull and neck caused by nervous tension or anxiety.
According to the results, 81% of women with tension headaches reported using sleep as a strategy to relieve pain, while about 55% of subjects in the control group used it.
Almost 60% of the participants in the headache group reported that their difficulty sleeping triggered their headaches compared to only 18% of the women in the control group. However, the results indicate no difference between the two groups on the use of medication for pain relief.
In several similar studies, insomnia was among the risk factors that triggered chronic headaches, the study authors say.
According to them, physicians should take into account, in their assessment, the frequency of the use of sleep as a strategy for their patients with tension headaches. These data could be useful in treating sleep behavior disorders and chronic headaches.
Carole Boulé – PasseportSanté.net
According to Medline Plus.
1. Ong JC, Stepanski EJ, et al, Pain coping strategies for tension-type-headache: possible implications for insomnia ?, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Vol.5, No.1, 2009. www.aasmnet.org/jcsm [Consulté le 2 mars 2009].
