Anxiety and headache: a very common combination

The race physical discomfort is once expressed without the phenomenon of psychological discomfort, and vice versa.

We have a clear example of this in the way in which anxiety is related to headaches; This combination gives rise to many of the symptoms that lead people to seek medical or psychological help frequently.

However… Why is it that people who suffer from anxiety tend to also experience headaches? Let's see.

• Related article: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

The unsuspected consequences of anxiety problems

Let's start by focusing on anxiety, starting with the most basic question on this topic: what is it like to be anxious? Anxiety is a set of psychological and physiological mechanisms triggered by a situation that we perceive as dangerous, or associated with a risk (for example, the risk of missing an opportunity.

This phenomenon awakens in us a "state of alert", a high degree of activation and sensitivity to stimuli; This is because when we feel anxiety we are predisposed to act quickly at the first sign that delaying a few seconds can be expensive. In this way, the ability to experience anxiety is a resource carved by millions of years of evolution and that in most cases has helped us survive and adapt to the environment.

However, This set of mechanisms that give rise to anxiety is a double-edged sword and "overflows" the type of situations in which it is useful. In fact, anxiety disorders are among the most common psychopathologies, affecting approximately 12% of the population. And since anxiety affects many psychological and physiological processes, the chain reaction of these alterations can give rise to very varied forms of discomfort. Among them, the headache.

Anxiety and headaches: between physical and emotional discomfort

As we have seen, anxiety makes us “on guard”. However, this is not a simple mechanism with very well defined effects: chain reactions caused by anxiety affect many aspects of the body through secretion and hormones, the activation of certain neural networks, the predisposition to certain types of thoughts, etc.

In this way, what at first seemed to be a purely psychological phenomenon also has a manifestation in symptoms associated with physical discomfort, such as occurs with the headache produced by the anxiety.

In addition, the headache itself can also predispose people to feeling more anxious, in a worse mood (making it easier to focus on unpleasant thoughts and memories) and in worse conditions to face the challenges of the day to day (and this produces the feeling that the situation "surpasses us"). In this way, the circle of causes and effects closes, giving rise to a whiting that bites its tail and erodes our well-being in two ways.

In this case we are going to focus on the first of those situations, that of the headache triggered or caused by anxiety, to see in what ways it can occur.

1. Tension headache

One of the main triggers of tension headache is the fact that the muscles of the neck and parts of the head were too tense for a significant period; for example, it occurs when we have been lying down or sitting with our necks at an angle that is uncomfortable for us. The pain is usually focused mainly on the sides of the head.

In this sense, we must not forget that when we suffer from excess anxiety, a good part of our muscles remain tense (in preparation for the possibility of having to move quickly), which can cause pain.

• You may be interested in: "Tension headache: causes, symptoms and treatment"

2. Vascular headache

Vascular headache arises as a consequence of an abnormal pattern of abnormal dilation or contraction of the blood vessels in the head area. It can be favored by anxiety, since the changes at the hormonal level that it produces make the circulatory system adapt for an "emergency" situation.

3. Lack of sleep

Finally, lack of sleep is another way in which anxiety can cause a headache. In states of distress or high levels of stress, it is difficult to fall asleep or have a restful sleep; This situation puts the capacities of the nervous system to the limit, which is associated with a feeling of general malaise, dizziness, headache, etc.

Are you interested in having psychotherapeutic support?

If you notice in your day to day you experience anxiety or some other form of discomfort related to your way of thinking, feeling or behaving, get in touch with us.

On Azor & Asociados We have been offering psychological assistance services through individualized psychotherapy, couples therapy and psychological expertise for more than 20 years. Sessions can be held in person at our Tres Cantos center, or online.