Headaches R us

I get  headaches all the time. It is unfortunately a fact of daily life for me. I get different kinds and for a variety of reasons. The most common can be attributed to 1) lack of sleep, 2) I am dehydrated, 3) my blood sugar level is low/dropping due to going too long in between meals and of course 4) stress.

Lack of Sleep

For a variety of reasons that are common in today's society I am often drawing the short straw when it comes to sleep. Shift work, noisy neighbours, pets, phone calls, and stress are the most common reasons for me, although I am aware that these also affect many others. For me I find that my sleep apnea also contributes to the sleep issues as well.

Sleep is very important a persons over all good health. Health professionals, family, friends and society at large try to drill that into our heads from an early age.  Unfortunately our society also tells us that we don't have the time for everything we want to accomplish so you will have to make a sacrifice somewhere down the line to allow you that time. Most of us figure that we can always catch up on our sleep later. I sometimes fall into that line of thought too even though I do know better.

Dehydration

Water, water, water. Drink, drink, drink. Hydration is super important. Getting your daily requirement isn't always an easy task. When we are on the go we tend to forget to drink and sometimes because we don't always feel thirsty we don't drink anything. It can be hard sometimes to fit 1-2 litres of fluid into your daily regime. To make it easier you should have a 8-12 oz (250-375ml) glass of water, juice or milk every hour throughout the day to keep yourself hydrated. Coffee and tea don't count as they are diuretics and will cause you to become more dehydrated.

Low Blood Sugars
For me it is an issue of keeping my blood sugars at a good level. I am not diabetic so that is not an issue. It is usually just a case of hypoglycemia. I can fix that easily with with something to eat or a drink of juice or milk. I do have the rare case where I will get weak, dizzy and/or faint if it gets real bad. I have had that happen about 3 times in my adult life. Is a little scary. I tend to eat something every 2-3 hours, with a maximum of 4 hours between snacks/meals. It works for me. If I go to the max or longer then I usually have headaches and get tired.

When I get a headache I usually ask myself if I am tired, thirsty or hungry and what can I do to alleviate this headache. A quick snack with a drink plus an Ibuprofen will do the trick. If I can sneak a nap in then I am golden. Sometimes that doesn't work though and then it means something else is the issue.

Stress
For most any adult out there stress is a big factor. Stress is one of those things that can affect you in so many ways that it is hard to keep track. If I cannot attribute my headache to the first three possibilities then it is the fault of stress. For me stress will lead to the worse kinds of headaches: Cluster, Tension, Migraine. They are not fun by anyone's definition.

I am able to minimized my headaches by keeping points 1-4 in mind by maintaining as healthy a lifestyle as is possible. For the most part I succeed. I stay hydrated, I have regular meals/snacks, I sleep 6-8 hours a night (sometimes more when able), and I minimized my stresses to the best of my ability. It isn't always easy but as I said I usually succeed.

So regardless of the regular headaches I get I still have a good life. I plan on keeping it good!