Exactly as they sound, tension headaches are brought on by stress. Tension headaches are the most common forms of headaches suffered by both men and women. Sometime in their lives individuals will suffer from at least one tension headache.

There are still some unanswered questions as to why tension headaches occur. It is believed that the source of the pain may be when the muscles in the head and neck constrict. Although other researchers believer there is additional sources of tension headaches and that there isn't a single trigger from the headaches. Some tests have shown that tension headaches may be caused by the wrong signals being sent to the brain. It is believed that a message of pain is wrongly sent to the brain when the muscles tense. This is why it is believed antidepressants are successful in treating tension headaches. Grinding teeth is another reason some think tension headaches occur. They believe those who are more likely to suffer from tension headaches are those who grind their teeth since this aggravates specific muscles in the head.

Unlike migraines which have pain on only one side of the head, tension headaches typically have pain across the entire front of the forehead. Tension headaches can be moderately bad, but they are often only light headaches. It is uncommon, but some people will have severe tension headaches which have intense pain. Tension headaches are not made worse by physical activity. Tension headaches occur less often or episodic and there are often periods of time in which suffers don't get tension headaches. Although tension headaches can also be chronic in which they can occur at least fifteen times in a four week period and can continue for up to six months. Tension headaches can last for either a few minutes or up to a few hours.

There are two things you can do if you suffer from tension headaches. You can gain temporary relief by taking over the counter pain medications. The second option is to find something that will ease your tension headaches. Taking yoga classes and learning to meditate has helped some people with their tension headaches since it is a good way to ease tension. Another relaxing option is to get a professional massage. Acupuncture can also help since this has been proven to have good pain relief outcomes. Physical exercise is a good option for letting out tension so you could try joining a gym. If you have excessive tension in your life then you may need to make serious life changes. Some of these changes can be difficult such as employment or relationship changes. Although once you make these difficult changes you won't have to deal with constant pain from tension headaches. If you still can't get rid of tension headaches it is important to know that they aren't dangerous and you can live with them.