Identifying and avoiding tension headache triggers

By identifying and avoiding tension headache triggers, you can help reduce the frequency and severity of your headaches. While some triggers may be out of your control, others are easily avoidable. The following points can help you prevent a tension headache:

• Keep a headache diary to identify your tension headache triggers.
• Manage stress.
• Seek treatment for any underlying depression or anxiety.
• Sleep, exercise, and eat on a regular schedule.
• Practice good posture to reduce neck strain.
• Reduce eyestrain from computers at work and at home.
• Stop clenching your jaw to reduce muscle tension in your face.

 What are common tension headache triggers?
 Why identify and avoid tension headache triggers?
 How to identify and avoid headache triggers
 Where to go from here

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Tension headaches can result from muscles tightening in the back of the neck or head because of stress, anxiety, fatigue, hunger, anger, poor posture, or overexertion.

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Keeping a headache diary can seem tedious and unnecessary. But by tracking your daily activity, the foods you eat, stress, and other environmental factors, you may uncover a pattern to your headaches and identify easy ways to avoid future tension headaches. Simply put, when you know and avoid your tension headache triggers, you should experience fewer headaches. This will ultimately improve your quality of life and reduce the frequency of your tension headaches. See an example of a headache diary(What is a PDF document?).

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To identify and avoid headache triggers:

• Manage your stress as best you can. Many people report getting a tension headache during a stressful event. You may not be able to control stressful events, but you may be able to control your response to those events. Relaxation exercises, biofeedback, or acupuncture may help reduce your stress level.
• Seek treatment for depression or anxiety. Taking antidepressants may reduce the number of tension headaches you experience as well as relieve your symptoms of depression and anxiety.
• Keep a headache diary. This may help identify tension headache triggers such as stress, depression, anxiety, eyestrain, poor posture, physical activities, and the general state of your health. If you suffer only occasional headaches, you may want to report on certain things, such as what was going on in your life at the time or what physical activity you were doing when a headache occurred. If you suffer from multiple headaches, you may want to keep a daily headache diary. It may take only a few months before you can identify your tension headache triggers. See an example of a headache diary(What is a PDF document?).
• Get regular exercise, but try to avoid extremely vigorous exercise, which can trigger a tension headache. If you experience a tension headache while exercising or shortly after exercising, write down the activity you were doing, what you ate that day, and how much stress or anxiety you were experiencing in your life.
• Keep a regular sleep schedule. Fatigue, too much sleep, an irregular sleep schedule, or waking up frequently during the night may trigger tension headaches. This may be a trigger that you are able to control.
• Eat regularly and well. Eating nutritious foods regularly may help prevent tension headaches in some people. Going for long periods without eating, or eating certain foods, can trigger a headache.

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Now that you have read this information, you are ready to start identifying and avoiding tension headache triggers.

Talk with your doctor

If you have questions about this information, take it with you when you visit your doctor. You may want to use a highlighter to mark areas or make notes in the margins of pages where you have questions.

Take your headache diary with you when you visit your doctor. Be sure to let your doctor know if you are noticing changes in your symptoms.

Talk with your doctor about what might be triggering your headaches. Discuss ways that you can avoid those triggers.

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