RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Headaches are among the most common pains in the world and do not exclude gender, age or health condition. Although most headaches are harmless, the truth is that how they arise and when they strike may be one of the best telltale signs of an individual’s health and lifestyle.
Morning headaches are one of the most bothersome and even crippling pains. There are five main possible causes for it, according to Women’s Health magazine, stressing that when it continually occurs and tends to worsen, seeing a doctor as soon as possible is advisable.
According to the magazine, poor quality sleep or insufficient hours of rest are one of the main factors for morning headaches, which results from the internal struggle of hormones to regulate themselves and thus ease the proper functioning of the body. But if on the one hand too little sleep can cause headaches, sleeping too long can have the same effect. In this case, the pain occurs as a consequence of the reduction of blood flow to the brain, explains Dr. Salvatore Napoli.
The imbalance of endorphins – common in the morning – can also be one of the aggravating factors for headaches when waking up, as can the excessive intake of alcoholic beverages the day before. The hangover effect is real and is mainly due to the dehydration caused by alcohol.
Snoring (whether or not it is due to sleep apnea) is also one of its triggers, says the magazine, completing its list of potential causes with late coffee intake (i.e. after late afternoon, although the effect is not the same for everyone), depression and high blood pressure.