Stress headaches are very common today and though you have plenty of over the counter medications available to you, it is better to find long term solutions. People who only get these headaches every once in a while could be fine with a quick fix but people who suffer from them chronically will be better off identifying the underlying cause. If your headaches are severe you should consult with a doctor, but you may also find some of the following remedies helpful.

Tension headaches can be caused by eyestrain, which is now a common issue when so many people are staring at computer screens all day. Add to this television and texting on your smart phone, and you may be straining your eyes quite a bit. While you probably can’t just quit your job, if that’s the main source of your eyestrain, you may be able to reduce the problem enough to prevent headaches. For example, you can give your eyes a break by looking away from your screen for a little bit. This is a good way to keep yourself from staring at the screen for a long time without allowing your eyes time to rest. You could also help yourself quite a bit by putting a protective shield on your computer screen so that both the glare and sometimes even radiation can be reduced. Cold caffeinated beverages like iced coffee and tea are good quick cures for a stress headache. Caffeine helps to reduces the size of the blood vessels that can cause a tension headache, and any kind of cold beverage also does this. You do need to be careful with this technique however because consuming too much caffeine can cause headaches in the long run when you start to go withdrawals after failing to get your “fix.” So, if you have a particularly bad tension headache, a cold beverage laden with caffeine might be helpful but you still need to work on lowering your stress levels and whatever else could be causing you to have headaches.

Things worn around or on your head can sometimes cause headaches. Headbands are obvious culprits but other things like hats, helmets, sunglasses and even lightweight headphones can be contributors. Some people are prone to what are called external compression headaches, which are caused by pressure around the head. An item might not hurt that badly when you first put it on but if you keep it on for a long time it can constrict blood flow and that can cause problems.

So if you always have a hat or other item on your head, you might want to try taking a break from it.

There are many treatments for stress headaches, some of which we’ve looked at in this article. If the cause of your headaches is tension, the obvious solution is to reduce stress in your life, but this isn’t always easy nowadays. It is still, however, something to focus on because stress is terrible on the body; headaches are just one of the problems.