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Important facts about headaches
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

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Headache sooner or later bothers more than 80% of people worldwide. It can occur from time to time or bother a person constantly. Those who have headaches that do not go away and bother them for more than several months, doctors count more than 35% of the world. Where does headache come from? Here are some interesting facts.
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Causes of headaches
- Hormonal imbalance
- Stress, long-term and short-term
- Constant mechanical strain on the neck and shoulder joints
- A constant state of depression
- A menu poor in vitamins
- Head injuries or even other body parts (they are related)
- Meteorological dependence (weather fluctuations)
- Change of climate and time zone
- Poor sleep and brain strain from this
- Constant exposure to bright light or, conversely, too little lighting
- Staying in rooms with bad smells
- Temperature changes
- Colds
Headache and Temperament
According to some data, temperament can directly influence the nature and intensity of headaches.
For example, those with a more lively temperament – choleric and sanguine people – are more bothered by headaches in the crown and temples, that is, the upper part of the head.
Slower people - melancholics - are more bothered by pain in the back of the head. And phlegmatic people suffer most from headaches in the nose area, these are long-term, severe deep pains.
Brain and headache
If you have pain in your head, rest assured: it is anything but the brain that hurts. It has no pain receptors, so the brain does not experience pain.
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Nerve receptors as pain conductors
Headaches would not occur if our body did not have nerve receptors that transmit them. If nerve receptors are affected by cold, heat, chemicals, mechanically excited (say, by blows to the body or simply by touching), the patient perceives the nerve impulses that arise from irritation as pain.
Since the receptors are located in different parts of the body, including the head area, these parts of the body can hurt quite a lot. Where are our nerves not located: in soft tissues (muscle area, arterial walls, skin). These nerve receptors are also in the vessels located at the very base of the brain. Therefore, headaches can bother quite often when the receptors are excited.
Types of headaches and their symptoms
There are more than 100 types of headaches. But doctors distinguish three main types. These are migraine, histamine headache and pressing headache. More about them.
Histamine headache
It comes on suddenly, and half of the face hurts (one, not two). Histamine pain can last from 20 minutes to two hours. The pain can be repeated over and over again – but not more than once a day. Its duration can last up to several months.
The causes of histamine pain have not yet been determined, despite the progressiveness of world medicine. It can overtake a person suddenly, even if all measures have been taken and there are no visible reasons for the appearance of histamine pain. Most often, this type of pain occurs in men.
Pressing headache
Refers to the most common headaches. Characterized by the fact that the head can be squeezed, as if by a hoop. Localization of pain can be in the upper part of the head or in the area of both temples.
Migraine
This headache is more popular with the weaker sex than with men. 80% of women on the planet have had migraines at least once in their lives. Migraines usually hurt on one side of the head, and so much so that a person can neither move, nor work, nor sometimes even speak.
A good cure for migraine is to place the patient in a dark room without extraneous sounds, smells and the smallest shelves of light. Such treatment can work even without pills.
Headache and diagnostics
If you often have headaches, this may be a deviation in other systems and organs. Doctors say that headaches can be symptoms of more than 45 different diseases, at first glance, not related to the head.
For example, it could be a malfunction of the kidneys or liver. Or worms parasitizing in some organ and clogging the body with toxins. In such cases, you should immediately consult a doctor for a comprehensive examination.
What is the difference between facial pain and headache?
There is a difference, and many do not know it. It lies in the area of localization of pain. For example, those pains that occur below the imaginary line of the eye and ear to the neck area are facial pains. What hurts above is the head, and pains in that area are called headaches.
Doctors came up with this distinction to make it easier for them to conduct diagnostics and explain the essence of treatment to patients.
Treating headaches with the power of words
This method, surprisingly, helps more than 45% of patients. That is, headaches can be cured not by medication, but by purely verbal methods. Very often, such an impact (a psychotherapy session, a slander, just a heart-to-heart talk) can be reinforced by a pill. The person finally calms down and his head stops hurting.
This means that most headaches are neurotic in nature. Especially since the pill may not be an analgesic at all, but an ordinary dummy, a placebo.
Products in the treatment of headaches
Some products have the ability to cure headaches. For example, raspberries. They contain a natural analgesic - aspirin, which penetrates the body in a very short time - within 30 seconds. With some types of headaches, it helps a lot, easing the patient's lot.
Chili peppers can also help with headaches. They contain the natural antibiotic capsaicin. It is so strong that pharmacists include it in adhesive bandages. Capsaicin can even overcome joint pain.
Mustard can help cope with a headache no worse than pills. Of course, you won't eat the mustard itself, so folk medicine suggests adding a piece of black bread to it. Eat it, and your headache will soon go away.
Ginger root will also serve well in the fight against headaches. You can grate it on a coarse grater, pour boiling water over 1 teaspoon of grated ginger and drink.
This simple remedy helps well with colds, boosting immunity and relieving headaches. And rinsing the mouth with ginger infusion will help cope even with toothache, not to mention headaches.
Garlic is also a good helper for headaches. It contains endorphins, hormones of happiness, just like an orange. Thanks to garlic, not only the human immune system is strengthened, but also the nervous system. A clove of garlic with black bread can drive away a headache.
But it is not recommended to eat a lot of spices when you have a headache – they only make the pain worse.