New Delhi, July 20 Headache is a blanket term used to describe pain on one or both sides of the head and upper part of the neck. According to the WHO, every adult experiences headache at some point of time in life.
The common causes of headaches are stress and anxiety, emotional distress, irregular eating habits, dehydration, high blood pressure, hot weather etc, Dr Pradeep Mahajan, Regenerative Medicine Researcher, Mumbai told life.
According to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, there are more than 150 types of headaches. Headaches are called 'primary' when there is no underlying associated condition and 'secondary' when there is an accompanying systemic condition. In primary headaches, the nerves, blood vessels, and muscles in the head and neck region are strained, which may be accompanied by changes in chemical activity in the brain. Migraine, cluster headache, and tension headache fall under this category.
Migraine is a type of primary headache, the cause of which is not clearly known; however, studies have suggested a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Migraine tends to run in families and is the sixth highest cause of days lost due to disability
( With inputs from IANS )