Guest Author - Lisa Shea

A stress headache is, naturally, a headache brought on simply by a stressful life. With the 24x7 lives many of us lead in modern times, it's a wonder we ever have a day without a stress headache.

In essence, when you are feeling stressed, your body tightens up, ready for action. It assumes that a stressful situation might cause you to need to "run", because the stress is caused by a predator. This was fine for our caveman ancestors, but it does little good if you're in a staff meeting or dealing with screaming children.

When your body tightens up, it causes your neck and shoulder muscles to get very tense and sore. It also causes the blood vessels in your neck and head to constrict.

In addition to this basic cause, there are other things going on. Your body, in "stress mode", is being flooded with special chemicals to help you do that fight-or-flight if necessary. Adrenaline and other hormones are coursing through your system. These aren't conducive to peaceful, relaxing thought!

So, in general, stress in your world is causing your body to prepare for a "safe escape". Because you can't actually escape the stress by running (usually at least!), the muscles stay tense, the chemicals stay in your system, and you get a headache as a result.

Of course, the situation isn't hopeless. There are ways to prevent stress headaches from happening in the first place, and also ways to cope with stress headaches once one comes on.