Understanding Exercise Headaches: Causes and Treatment Options

2023-05-27 02:27:08

Physical training gives a feeling of euphoria or relaxation to many people, but other people may have the exact opposite effect of exercise on them, according to an article on the “”The Conversation“.

Author Adam Taylor, a professor and director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Center at Lancaster University, pointed out that some people may experience headaches as a result of physical training, and this may occur during or following intense and strenuous physical activity, such as running, heavy lifting, or even sex. .

“Exercise headache” or “exertion headache” was first described by researchers, in 1968. While symptoms vary from person to person, it usually involves a feeling of pulsation on both sides of the head, which some describe as similar to a migraine.

The headache may last for only a few minutes or two days. In explaining the cause of the headache, Taylor writes that when you exercise, blood flow to the brain increases in order to ensure that it gets enough oxygen to keep the body moving.

However, this also means that there is an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, and what it takes to get rid of it in terms of a rise in body temperature, which pushes the blood vessels to expand, and this expansion causes pain.

And unlike other parts of the body that get rid of heat through sweating, the only way for the brain to get rid of it is by dilating the blood vessels. Since hot, humid weather already increases the temperature of the brain, exercise doubles that, leading to even more swelling in the blood vessels.

Taylor writes that the headache usually stops following exercise within an hour or two, and if it does not stop, you can take painkillers that do not require a prescription, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

The writer advises those who frequently suffer from tension headaches to talk to the doctor regarding medications that can reduce the chances of headaches, and it is also advised to return to physical exercises gradually in the event that there has been a period of interruption from exercising for a long time, and to start with warm-up exercises to help the blood circulation deal. With changes in blood pressure and flow.

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