At some time most of us will suffer headaches for the good reason that there are so many things that can cause them, some causes such as head trauma are obvious but did you know that constipation, allergies, sitting in the wrong chair or even the wind can do it to you.

Headaches can be and often are connected to other things that go on inside your body. In the case of headaches that are caused by constipation for instance, the cause of your constipation may be dehydration, dehydration in itself (without any accompanying constipation) can also be a cause of headache, therefore drinking more water may fix both problems at the same time. If having a bowel motion makes a headache suddenly vanish the chances are that your headache may have been caused by too long an interval between trips to the loo.

Stress is a very well known cause of headaches,  stress hormones change blood chemistry, stress also changes your posture and body language because our bodies instinctively tighten up as part of the fight and flight response, these postural changes can stiffen neck muscles that then refer pain to your head- remove the stressors and the headache improves.

Jaw tension is a common stress response that can cause severe headaches, some bodyworkers believe that jaw tension is usually the product of really wanting to tell someone else how their behavior causes you  anger or worry but you decide that “spitting the dummy” will only make matters worse so biting down even harder is an unconscious way of keeping all your frustration on the inside. If your partner has ever complained that you grind your teeth in your sleep or your dentist comments that clenching your teeth is wearing down your tooth enamel you are a likely candidate for jaw tension headaches. Maybe you should speak your mind more.

Eye strain and bright light can give you some pretty fierce headaches too, if you work indoors and are reading all day (like off a computer screen) give yourself frequent short breaks where you are looking at distant objects, this helps to not only give your short range eye muscles a rest but also to sit straight again when you return to your desk thereby reducing the chances of a posture induced headache. If you work outside always remember your hat and sunglasses.

Hormonal headaches can get severe too and can be similar to migraine headaches, the difference being that men don’t get hormone headaches and some say that hormone headaches are usually one sided. Changes in the estrogen/progesterone balance that precipitate hormonal headaches can be brought on by being premenstrual, menopausal, the commencement or cessation or altering of oral contraception and after having babies (especially if the baby doesn’t sleep well!).

Headaches can be diet or allergy related too-, alcohol, caffeine, chocolate and chilli are often completely off the menu for migraine suffererers and there are other  times that people discover to their amazement  other seemingly healthy foods can do it too, I once knew a naturopath who had a client who tested positive to carrots in an allergy test- her client stopped drinking carrot juice and her headaches stopped!, sometimes the cause of headaches can be quite surprising.

The neck and jaw techniques in Self Massage can help you a lot.