• Question: Why do people get headaches?? x

    Asked by justiekeeling7 to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 19 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by lidivampire, drstilesjlstermerrygold98, vincent, jessiej, megaside, ginge97, ninjanae.
    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      hi @justiekeeling7

      Good question. I was quite surprised when I found this out…

      You dont actually get headaches because of pain in your brain! Your brain tissue cant actually feel pain as it doesnt contain the receptors that sense pain. Instead, the pain comes from other things in and around your head. These include the membranes (meninges) between your brain and your skull, the blood vessels that transport blood to and from the brain, the muscles of your head and neck or the nerves that run from your face and spine.

      Why these structures hurt is more complicated and something that a lot of scientists are still trying to understand. I have heard that the membranes can get irritated and cause a headache if you get too dehydrated. I guess that if youre stressed and tense then your head and neck muscles could lead to a headache… I know that treatments for migranes and chronic headaches are still less than ideal so we need to learn more so we can find better ways to treat them.

      This is why we need more people to become scientists, to help us find all this out!

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi @justiekeeling7
      Rachael’s answer is great.
      Quite often I get headaches because I haven’t drunk enough water, or sometimes when I don’t have caffeine I get a ‘caffeine withdrawal’ headache.

      Luckily these are easily cured by a glass of water or a tea or coffee!

      Thanks for the question!

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      You can also get a headache if you’ve kept your head or neck in the ‘wrong’ position for a few hours – like if you’ve slept with your head on one side, or you’ve been sitting in front of a computer for too long and slumping towards it (this often happens to me, because I don’t get up and exercise often enough …). If you do that, some of your neck muscles can get too tense, because they are doing too much work to support your head while others are not doing any work at all, and that can give you a headache.

      It sounds from these answers as if you can get a headache from almost anything, even staying in bed! Not true. But it does show how important it is to keep fit and use your body properly, I suppose!

Comments

  • Photo: morgancope

    morgancope commented on :

    How does dehydration irritate the membranes? Why do they need water?

    • Photo: Suzi

      Suzi commented on :

      All the cells in your body need water. Water is the basis for the main substance in cells, in which the processes the cells need to do to stay alive take place. When cells don’t have enough water they go ‘flaccid’ (pruney), and I assume this gives you a headache because it causes the membrane to stretch, or behave in a different way to normal, when the cells are all putting pressure on each other.

      This is only me theorising though, so I’m not fully sure.