Wednesday, June 10, 2009
With one in six Americans suffering from chronic headaches, headaches are a major health issue impacting the quality of life of society. In fact, headache sufferers make more than 8 million visits a year to doctor’s offices, and many turn to specialists for help. Dr. Ki Jung of Northlake Neurology says that those with chronic headaches account for half of the patients who seek medical advice at his practice. Dr. Jung shares tips for headache prevention and management for National Headache Awareness Week, which is from June 7 to 13, 2009.
Tips for Prevention and Management
- Keep a headache diary in order to provide your doctor with an accurate record to help identify patterns. Keep track of the type of when it begins and how long it lasts, intensity level, type of pain and location. Other important details to include are information on stress levels, amount of sleep and the foods that you eat.
- Sleep is key to headache prevention as is working to reduce your stress levels at work and at home. Relaxation techniques and deep breathing are just a couple ways to reduce your stress.
- Exercising regularly has shown to be effective in preventing headaches, even if you are only able to walk for 15 to 20 minutes per day.
- Eat a healthy diet and avoid food triggers. Skipping meals is a common trigger of headaches. If you don’t have time to eat a meal, a small snack or glass of water can help keep headaches at by. Also beware that foods with caffeine and alcohol can cause headaches as well.
- Avoidance of overusing pain relievers. Often times, headache sufferers end up taking over-the-counter pain relievers too often (i.e., daily) and subsequently develop daily “rebound analgesic headaches”. These types of headaches often occur due to the body’s development of tolerance and dependency on pain medications, and can be difficult to treat once a pattern of daily analgesic use has been established.
