If you often get headaches at work, you’re far from alone.
While you’re body is at your desk, your head may be somewhere else, and it often has little to do with the most common suspects. Construction noise and other things ringing inside peoples’ heads at work are often a symptom, not a cause, of headaches.
Here are five common reasons why people get headaches at work:
- Not drinking enough water. While you can’t tell why you have a headache right away, dehydration is often the cause. This is because when you’re not drinking enough water, blood vessels in your brain constrict in order to make up for the lack of fluid in your body. If you drink more water while cutting back on caffeine and sugary foods, this problem shouldn’t affect you anymore.
- Your work environment. According to WebMD, your office environment will play a large role in whether or not you get headaches at work. The specific causes can be broken down into stress, exhaustion, bright lights, and noise. Unfortunately, the only way around this is often adjusting your own behaviors to make your workplace more agreeable to you.
- Being burnt out and not enthusiastic about the daily grind. If your headache gets started well before you even get to work, this might be the reason. Some great ways to fight the pain of the daily grind include meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and other simple relaxation techniques.
- Not enough sleep. There are many, many problems that a lack of sleep can bring to an individual. Health problems such as heart problems, early balding, and workplace headaches are all often the result of not enough sleep.
- In some cases, bad posture. If you work at a desk, straining the muscles on your neck through bad posture can lead to headaches. Maintaining good posture and occasionally getting up to stretch can help you avoid these issues.
