Why do women have headaches more often than men
'13.05.2020'
Source: Air force
Each of us knows what a headache is, but scientists say that women know this better because they often suffer from this ailment, writes Air force.
And if you thought that the reason lies in the hormonal fluctuations inherent in women, then you will not be quite right. This is just one of the reasons.
Answering the question posed in the headline, doctors also advise taking into account the fact that in general men complain of pain and turn to doctors less often.
However, given this factor, the incidence of headaches in women is still greater.
Hormones first
According to its physiological characteristics, hormonal changes occur monthly in the female body, depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle, and as a result - headache.
In addition, these hormonal changes affect the psycho-emotional state of a woman, which is also called premenstrual syndrome. When irritation increases and resistance to stress decreases, sleep may be disturbed. And this also causes a headache, neurologist Yulia Ivchenko tells BBC News Ukraine.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding affect the quality of sleep, cause stress and emotional stress, and as a result - headaches.
And also menopause, when women are prone to the development of hypertension, osteoporosis, and a decrease in vitamin D.
“Therefore, having such a pronounced causal relationship, women more often have headaches,” concludes Yulia Ivchenko.
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Mysterious Migraine
We should also talk about migraines. This debilitating pain is more often experienced by women. In general, one in five women and only one in 15 men suffer from migraines.
But finally, the reasons why women suffer more are not clarified, as are the causes of migraine in general.
Scientists estimate that around 10 percent of people worldwide suffer from migraines, a severe, debilitating headache that throbs and affects half of the head.
Cluster pain is more common in men, which is severe on one side of the head, usually around the eye, and may be accompanied by tearing and swelling around the eyes.
Migraine is still very little known. Doctors do not know what exactly is the cause of this pain.
Among the scientific hypotheses, there are even genetic factors, so there are studies that prove that two-thirds of migraine sufferers admitted that one of the parents or older relatives had the same ailment.
Emotional addiction
One study published by the British newspaper Daily Mail proved that migraine statistics for women and men are also explained by the fact that they perceive different kinds of pain in different ways.
This was one of the findings of an extensive study of the brains of 1000 male and female volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Scientists have concluded that male and female brains are very different.
However, studies have been published of the opposite content - that in fact the brain is not different, but gender stereotypes are too strong.
It is believed that men and women experience different pains differently due to the fact that emotions - especially anger, stress - play an important role in the perception of pain in general and headache in particular. And since women are more emotional than men, these emotions affect the intensity of pain.
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The head does not hurt just like that
However, there are quite a few reasons why the head hurts in both men and women. Here are some of them that the neurologist Yulia Ivchenko calls:
- increased blood pressure (more often in men);
- hormonal changes in violation of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and sex glands;
- dehydration (for example, due to intestinal disorders, labor in hot conditions, significant physical exertion);
- intoxication of the body;
- stress;
- sleep disturbance;
- bad habits (for example, smoking contributes to blood clotting, impaired elasticity and vascular tone);
- spasm of the cervical muscles due to a long pastime with gadgets and computers, improper position during sleep, lack of physical activity;
- certain diseases, including cerebral atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, problems of ENT organs, dental, neurological problems, iron deficiency anemia.
And this incomplete list is one more proof that it is not worth neglecting headaches, especially periodic and frequent ones, for both men and women. Often this is a signal of some kind of disease in the body that requires medical intervention.
