• Posted September 14, 2025

Understanding Headaches: Types, Triggers And New Treatments

Everyone gets headaches, but not all headaches are the same. 

For some, they’re a quick inconvenience. For others, they can be intense, long-lasting and even disabling, disrupting daily life for days or weeks.

Experts say finding the right treatment depends on identifying the type of headache and understanding what triggers it.

“We define chronic headache as having more than 15 headache days per month. So, more days with headache than not,” Michael Oshinsky, a pain expert at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told its monthly newsletter News In Health.

The most common kind is a tension-type headache, often linked to stress, lack of sleep, dehydration or poor posture. Pain usually feels mild to moderate and affects both sides of the head.

Migraines are another frequent cause of disabling pain. Unlike tension headaches, migraines are a complex brain condition that can cause:

• Severe pain on one or both sides of the head

• Nausea or vomiting

• Sensitivity to light, noise and smells

• Fatigue and mood changes

“Migraine is a disorder where the ‘volume knob’ of the nervous system has been turned up,” said Dr. K.C. Brennan, a migraine researcher at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Other headache types include:

• Cluster headaches: Sudden, severe pain that often occurs in cycles

• Post-traumatic headaches: Common after concussions or head injuries

• Secondary headaches: Caused by underlying issues like stroke, infections or high blood pressure

Small lifestyle changes can help prevent many headaches. Experts recommend:

• Drinking plenty of water

• Getting enough sleep

• Managing stress

• Identifying and avoiding common triggers

Keeping a headache diary can also be helpful, Oshinsky said.

“For at least a month, just note down when you have a headache, how you treated it, how long it lasted," he said.

For occasional headaches, over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers may help, but using them too often can backfire.

“If you use painkillers more than three or four times a week, once the drug is out of your system you can get a rebound headache,” Oshinsky explained.

For chronic migraine and frequent headaches, doctors may prescribe preventive treatments like CGRP-targeting drugs, which help many people experience fewer attacks. But these therapies don’t work for everyone.

Researchers are exploring new options, including treatments that target glutamate, a brain chemical linked to nerve communication and possibly migraines.

“We need to figure out how this unusual glutamate activity works, in what brain cell type, and under what conditions, in order to develop a more tailored approach to migraine treatment,” Brennan said.

Not all effective treatments involve drugs, however. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches coping strategies and has been shown to change brain activity, similar to medication effects, Hadas Nahman-Averbuch of Washington University in St. Louis, told News in Health.

Other non-drug approaches include mindfulness and biofeedback, she said.

Children and teens get headaches, too. For many, simple steps like staying hydrated, eating balanced meals and improving sleep can help. But migraines in kids can look different from those in adults.

“A very young child with a migraine headache will often point to their stomach first and say, ‘my stomach hurts,’ ” Oshinsky said.

Hormonal changes during puberty may trigger migraines, especially in girls. Nahman-Averbuch’s team is studying how hormones affect migraine pain and hopes to develop tests to predict which teens are most at risk.

“If we can predict who will develop migraine, then maybe we can do something to prevent that from happening,” she said.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more on headaches and migraines.

SOURCE: News in Health, September 2025