Sleep and headaches

Many people who regularly get headaches also have insomnia on a regular basis. This is particularly common among migraine patients.

Disrupted sleep problems can often worsen their headaches or make them occur more frequently. There are many useful strategies for treating insomnia. People with headaches should especially try to find ways to initiate sleep without using habit-forming drugs.

Sleep apnea can produce headaches or worsen an underlying headache disorder. Sleep apnea is a common disorder which is often missed. If you are usually sleepy by day and do not feel that your sleep is refreshing at night, you may have sleep apnea, whether you snore or not. This is a potentially dangerous condition which can be easily tested.

There are many treatment options available and it is wise for headache sufferers to avoid over-the-counter preparations which combine acetaminophen and Benadryl, since excessive acetaminophen can lead to chronic daily headaches (rebound headaches).

Additional information about sleep and headaches is available at:

http://michiganheadache.com/sleepandheadache.asp
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Insomnia/hic_Insomnia.aspx

More information about sleep apnea can be found at:

http://sleepapnea.org/