Why might you wake up with aheadache?
Figuring out what triggered the pain is important for determining how to find relief.
This article reviews common causes of morning headaches and explains what you might do to treat or prevent them.
Peter Dazeley / Getty Images
Dehydration
Dehydrationis a common cause of headaches in general.
It happens when you lose more water than you take in.
Dehydration is often resulting from excessive sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, or a fever.
Morning headaches are especially likely if you get dehydrated overnight.
In mild cases, you’re able to relieve dehydration with water.
Severe dehydration requires immediate medical attention.
That can put a stop to morning dehydration headaches.
Alcohol
Drinking alcohol, especially in large amounts, can contribute to morning headaches.
Hangoverheadaches are technically called delayed alcohol-induced headaches.
Potential factors could include:
Hangover symptoms may last anywhere from a few hours to three days.
The duration depends on how much you drank, how dehydrated you got, and several other factors.
Hangovers aren’t the only way alcohol leads to morning headaches.
Drinking water when you have alcohol beverages is also a good idea.
Thatmuscle strainmay lead to a morning headache.
When your muscles contract, it limits blood flow.
They irritate your nerves, leading to pain.
Morning neck-strain headaches tend to be tension headaches or migraines.
They often feature:
Blood flow can’t resume until the muscle relaxes.
At that point, the waste is flushed out and the irritation can ease.
Grinding Your Teeth
Regularly grinding your teeth at night is a disorder called sleepbruxism.
This can be both a symptom of poor sleep and a cause of it.
It’s also tied to high stress levels.
Tooth grinding can aggravate your jaw joint and contribute totemporomandibularjoint disorders (TMJ).
Research published in 2020 showed a direct relationship between nighttime grinding and morning headaches.
Insomnia is often associated with chronic migraines and chronic tension headaches.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)involves pauses in breathing that disrupt your sleep.
Sleep disruption can be a headache trigger by itself.
These headaches typically:
The pain of morning OSA headaches is often described as aching rather than sharp.
These headaches don’t occur at other times of day.
Common physiology is at least part of whyanxietyanddepressionare both common in people with migraines and sleep disorders.
In fact, a 2020 study confirmed a link between headaches and increased anxiety and depression scores.
Some antidepressants have sedative effects, helping you sleep better too.
A hypertensive crisis is a sudden, sharp rise in blood pressure.
It causes headaches that are often accompanied by anosebleedand tend to be worse in the morning.
The reasons behind hypertensive headaches may vary for different headache types.
This is especially important if you’re pregnant and have frequent headaches.
Treating Hypertension
There are several options for treating hypertension.
These include:
Hypertension increases your risk of heart disease.
It’s important to have it diagnosed and treated by a healthcare professional.
If it’s high, rest for five minutes and check it again.
If your second reading is above 180/120, call 911 immediately.
Medication Side Effects
Several types of medications cause side-effect headaches in some people who take them.
They include:
Myriad other medications and some supplements can cause headaches as well.
They should also clear up if you stop taking the drug in question.
However, don’t stop taking a prescription medication without the advice of a healthcare professional.
Doing so can cause side effects, as well as complications related to your condition going untreated.
The headache medications work at first, but over time, they become less effective.
When they wear off, your headache comes backusually worse than it was before you took the medication.
If you don’t realize this is happening, it’s natural to take another dose.
However, that just compounds the problem.
Medication-overuse headaches are sometimes called medication-induced headaches,rebound headaches, drug-induced headaches, or medication-misuse headaches.
However, not everyone who gets them has overused or misused the medication.
Your healthcare provider can help you find different treatment, if needed.
Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist how to treat your headache while the drug is still in your body.
Timing of Headache Medications
Migraines are most common early in the morning.
Circadian Rhythm Disorders
Circadian rhythmsare biological cycles, including the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle.
However, sleeping too much is a key in of sleep disorder that can leave you feeling terrible.
At that point, your brain begins to work and your body starts to want food and water.
If you continue for too long in that state, it can trigger a headache.
In some instances, people find themselves chronically oversleeping or unable to wake after a normal night’s sleep.
This could be a sign ofhypersomniaand may result in other symptoms such as confusion, anxiety, and hallucinations.
Treating Exploding Head Syndrome
In some instances, relaxation techniques may ease exploding head syndrome.
Summary
Common morning headache types include tension, migraine, cluster, and medication-overuse headaches.
They can be resulting from a diverse array of triggers.
These include sleep disorders, other medical conditions, and things like alcohol and medication use.
Treatments for morning headaches depend on the underlying cause.
Treating a medical condition that triggers morning head pain may alleviate it.
Getting good sleep may help, as well.
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