9 Best Remedies to Ease Your Tension Headache

Tension headaches are known as ‘hatbands’ because it feels like you’re wearing a tight hat for too long.

Pain from tension headaches can range from mild to intense tightening pain, which can get worse when you are exposed to bright light or loud noise, but does not result in throbbing or pulsing.

Causes of Tension Headaches

You feel a tension headache when you engage in activities that overstretch your neck muscles, causing fatigue in the muscles at the back of your neck and shoulders, which causes pain to travel slowly to the base of your skull, encircling your head, and resulting in a tension headache.

Causes of tension headaches include:

Poor posture like looking down at your mobile phone for too long
Repetitive tasks,
Work pressures
Relationship stress
Sleeping facedown on your stomach
Spending hours playing video games
Working long hours on your laptop
Driving long distances without taking a break
Clenching your jaw constantly.

9 Best Remedies to Ease Your Tension Headache

1. Practice the Right Sitting Posture

Practicing the correct sitting posture reduces the pressure on your shoulders and neck, thus reducing fatigue and headache.

If you have to sit for long hours, you should sit upright and avoid slouching forward with your head dangling over your neck.

It is also helpful to use a supportive chair that relaxes your back and shoulder muscles and ensures that your eyes stare straight at the screen without you having to bend your head.

How to Practice the Right Sitting Posture:

When seated in a chair, tilt your pelvis forward to create a curve in your neural spine (lower back portion).
Draw your shoulders back to align with your ears rather than a hunched position with your head jutting forward
Your hips, knees, and ankles should rest at 90⁰with the soles of your feet flat on the floor. You can place your feet flat on a box or stool.

2. Practice Suboccipital Release Exercise

A suboccipital release is a form of exercise that relieves tension in the suboccipital muscles.

How to Do Suboccipital Release Exercise:

Tie two tennis balls in a sock
Layback on a flat and firm surface and rest the bottom of your skull on the two tennis balls
Role your head slowly from side to side to find tight knots in the base of your skull and upper neck region
If you find any knots, hold still with a ball resting, pressing directly on the knot for 10 to 15 seconds until the knot starts to loosen up.
Work on the suboccipital muscles for 5 to 10 minutes to release tensions, and reduce headaches.

3. Practice Chin Tuck Stretch

The Chin tuck exercise strengthens the cervical muscles at the front of the neck to support the weight of the head without resulting in fatigue in the suboccipital muscles.

How to do the Chin tuck stretch:

Push your chin up gently with two fingers placed at the bottom of your chin
Tuck your chin in gently while retracting your head backward
Hold this position for 5 seconds
Take a moment’s break and repeat 10 times
Do 3 reps.

The chin tuck exercise should make you feel like the muscles at the back of your neck are stretching, and a kind of heaviness in the front of your neck.

4. Practice the Upper Trapezius Stretch

The Upper trapezius exercise is designed to stretch the neck and upper back muscles.

How to do the Upper Trapezius stretch:

Start by standing or sitting down uprightly
Place your left or right arm over your head with your left/right hand resting on the right/left ear.
Tuck the other hands behind your back and try tucking your head towards your shoulder using the hand tucked above your head
Hold still for 20-30 seconds.
Repeat 12 times for both left and right sides of your body (3 sets)
Lie down on your back on a flat surface with your hands resting on your lap

5. Practice Yoga/Meditation

Yoga or mindful meditation relieves tension headaches by helping you to manage your anxiety and stress levels.

Mindful meditation works by helping you to accept the reality of your thoughts, perception, and emotions.

6. Manage Your Stress and Anxiety Levels

Stress and anxiety also cause tension headaches; recognizing and avoiding your anxiety triggers, and practicing anxiety-coping strategies like grounding exercise, mindfulness meditation, aromatherapy, drinking herbal teas, journaling, nature walk, etc., can help relieve tension headaches.

7. Keep a Headache Journal

Keep a headache journal where you enter the frequency of tension headaches, their triggers, and the activities that relieve you from the headache.

This journal can reduce tension headaches by helping you to recognize and avoid tension headache triggers as much as possible and the possible treatment options available.

8. Apply Cold Therapy

Placing an icepack at the base of your skull can help to relieve tension headaches by soothing the sore neck muscles.

Cold therapy temporarily numbs the nerve endings in your neck muscles and the base of your skull, thus calming down the headache.

Methods of applying cold therapy:

Massage the base of your neck slowly with an icebag wrapped in a piece of clean cloth;
Massage with a towel dipped in ice-cold water for 5 minutes.
You can use a pack of cold vegetables as an alternative to an ice bag or a cold towel.

9. Get Enough Rest

Getting enough sleep daily (8 hours sleep on average) can heal you of tension headaches by relaxing your muscles and lowering your blood cortisol (stress hormone) level.

Note: consuming products can cause sleep deprivation by keeping you awake and active; hence you should avoid consuming caffeine at night.

Conclusion

Although there is no definitive cure for tension headaches, practicing any of the remedies listed above can help you relieve tension headaches.

Lifestyle changes such as identifying and avoiding stressors, taking a break from work or long drives, adjusting your sleep posture, exercising, cutting down on smoking and alcohol consumption, and eating fruits, nuts, and vegetables can keep tension headaches at bay for a long period.

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