If A Headache Wakes You Up At Night

If a headache wakes you up at night, there can be harmless but also serious reasons.

Having a headache at night is rare, but it does happen. Headaches are often so severe at night that they wake you up and find it difficult to go back to sleep afterwards. You can find out here what can be the reason that you have a headache at night.

Who gets a headache at night?

Basically anyone can get a headache at night, but there are risk groups that are more likely. The risk factors are in particular:

• migraine
• sleep disorders
• Narcolepsy
• disc prolapse
• Grinding teeth
• Hormonal preparations
• Sleep apnea

These factors increase the risk of having a headache at night. But it is also possible, without showing any of the risk factors mentioned, to wake up at night with an unbearable headache.

Today we’re going to introduce you to possible types of nighttime headache attacks:

Cluster headache

Cluster headache is very rare but also very severe. The pain is concentrated in the area behind the eyes, forehead and temples. A cluster headache attack not only occurs at night, but can also occur during the day and usually lasts about a quarter of an hour, but can last up to 3 hours.

The term “cluster” refers to the fact that the pain accumulates over a period of a few weeks or months and then disappears completely or occurs again periodically at a certain time of the year.

If cluster headaches occur so frequently that one attack changes into another, the quality of life is severely impaired and some patients develop depression. Those who are lucky will only experience this extreme type of headache at night.

“Exploding head syndrome”

Those who suffer from “exploding head” syndrome wake up feeling that something has exploded in their head. Those affected hear a loud bang in the head and often see flashes of light.

The fear outweighs the pain, so it is more fear than headache that drives patients to the doctor. The cause of this nocturnal headache is still unknown, but it is believed to be harmless.

Primary sleep-related headache

This type of headache only occurs at night. You suddenly wake up at night with a headache. This condition lasts up to four hours after waking up painfully and is difficult to alleviate. 70% more women than men suffer from this type of headache.

This pain often occurs after people have been awake at night and then fell asleep again, which is why one theory is that the cause is a decreased oxygen supply from a pillow, arm, or blanket on the face.

However, because caffeine appears to help prevent nighttime headaches, science is not yet sure what the cause is.

So if you only have a headache at night, just try to have another cup of espresso in the evening. Please no filter coffee, because it contains too much caffeine for you to sleep well.

Headache while lying down

If you have headaches at night that get worse and worse and only occur when you are lying down, you should see this as a warning signal and consult a doctor, because there could be a tumor behind it. This is particularly the case when :

• Painkillers don’t help
• the pain only occurs when lying down,
• the pain keeps getting stronger
• Disturbances of perception (smell, taste, sight, understanding, …) occur or
• Mishaps often occur (stumbling, dropping things, jerky movements, etc.)

There are many other symptoms of a brain tumor, but if you only have a headache at night or if it only occurs while lying down, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Tension headache

This type of headache occurs not only at night but also during the day and is the most common type of headache that everyone will certainly experience from time to time. Usually the cause is obvious and is based on:

• Insufficient amount of drink
• Tension
• Bad posture
• Ametropia
• Sun exposure / heat
• Overexertion
• high blood pressure
• lack of sleep

If tension headaches occur predominantly at night, you should start to turn the mentioned “adjusting screws”:

• Drink more before you go to bed.
• Does a new pillow help?
• Does the mattress suit you?
• Do you need glasses?

• What is your blood pressure

It is usually easy to minimize the risk of getting a headache at night and sleep through the night.