Sleep Linked to Tension Headaches

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Many doctors recommend napping to relieve the pain of tension-type headaches. However, new research linking these headaches to insomnia could mean this common treatment method is only making the condition worse.

Researchers found over time, using sleep as a coping mechanism for pain can lead to the development of poor sleep patterns and chronic insomnia by disrupting one’s homeostatic drive for sleep.

Fifty-eight percent of tension-type headache sufferers reported sleep problems as a trigger of headaches, compared to 18 percent in the control group. Eighty-one percent of women with chronic tension headaches reported sleeping as a way of managing the pain associated with their headaches.

“Insomnia is a common complaint among headache sufferers,” Jason C. Ong, Ph.D., assistant professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center, was quoted as saying. “While napping may relieve pain, it may also result in poor sleep hygiene, thus triggering sleep disturbance or perpetuating an insomnia episode.”

Separate analyses of pain history, coping strategies and electromyographic activity brought authors to the conclusion that assessment of daytime napping behaviors among insomniac tension headache sufferers may be an important part of a patient’s treatment plan.

SOURCE: The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2009

Interesting article. But actually, I am not really convinced. From my own experience, the effects described in the article do not imply that “napping is bad”, but that the people affected should have a closer look at their addiction/”reward”/evasion mechanisms in general…

Napping, even more when done right, e.g. with some nice brainwave session of lets say 30 minutes, is one of the most powerful instruments to recharge, relax and give the body the break it needs. And it can help to let go emerging headaches / migraines before they even get really bad.

My favorites: the “Longevity” session that comes with the first level of Holosync (and has a great healing potential beyond the “live long and prosper” focues), or the power naps from Jeffrey Thompson
.