Snoring Can Cause Headaches!

Headache is commonly seen in patients suffering with snoring.

Snoring patients often wake up with headache, which generally disappears as the day progresses. The condition is often seen in obese people.

Tensions associated with social aspects, arguments with bed partner, and lack of sleep can cause severe headache.

Tension headaches are described as constant pressure in the frontal and temporal areas.

Important factor of the headache is constant contraction and over contraction of the scalp muscles.

Tension headaches are also associated with depression and anxiety, which are associated with snoring. Headache sufferers take pain killers to ease their head pain. These pain relievers increase the possibility of a person’s snoring.

Snoring can also wake up the person multiple times during night and cause poor nighttime sleep. This lack of sleep can cause headache. People who have difficulty sleeping hold carbon dioxide at night and this can be the trigger that cause headache.

Vascular headaches are caused by retaining carbon dioxide. Nocturnal and early morning headaches are caused among these people where ventilation is poor during sleep and stagnation reduces clearance of secretions.

Hypertension and snoring have been associated with headaches and medications that are used to treat hypertension and snoring may exacerbate headache problem.

Nasal stuffiness is a common cause of snoring, which blocks the airways and results in snoring. Therefore, it can lead to headache. Nasal stuffiness occurs due to change in pressure dependent on posture.

Certain foods, drinks and other things can prone a person to snoring. These things include late large meals, drinking milk before bed, consuming alcohol and dairy foods late in the evening.

The same things trigger headaches. The headaches send the person to quiet, dark room until the headache subsides.

Physical features such as temporomandibular joint dysfunction can promote excessive muscle contraction and snoring. The treatment is undertaken by dental, oral and orthodontics.

Stop snoring to prevent headaches:

• Using Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) alleviate these symptoms leaving the patient headache-free in the morning.
• Sleeping on the side is one way to stop snoring as it results in the opening of nasal passages and results in breathing normally.
• Use a thick elevated pillow to relieve from snoring, as it reduces snoring by opening nasal passages.
• Exercises are one of the best ways to stop snoring. These exercises focus to control the tongue and jaw movements that take part in the action of snoring. [Exercises to Stop Snoring]
• Good dietary habits also reduce the snoring problem and in turn reduce headaches. Avoid high calorie foods, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol consumption for a good night sleep.
• Good sleep hygiene plays an important role in preventing snoring and headaches. Sleep hygiene include going to bed at the same time in the night and getting up at the same time in the morning.

Once you follow the natural ways to stop snoring, you can prevent headaches related to snoring.