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Why are more and more young people having headaches?

2025-02-16 20:25:57Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Why are more and more young people having headaches?
Why are more and more young people having headaches?

Whether they are tension headaches, stress-related headaches, or migraines, children are also affected by them. What should you keep in mind when treating children? And why can unconventional approaches help?

Would you send your child to school with a severe migraine attack? The spontaneous reaction of most parents is probably: no. However, experts are calling for this approach to be reconsidered. They believe that despite the acute symptoms, going to school may help children in the long run to stop associating school with the headache.

In this way, school avoidance can be prevented under certain circumstances. “It seems more obvious than it is: the headache stops after a while,” explains Peter Kropp, director of the Institute for Medical Psychology in Rostock.

Migraine in growing children

The figures show that new strategies are needed to combat headaches in children. A comparison between the 1970s and the early 2000s shows that the likelihood of a child suffering from migraine without aura has increased sixfold. And the likelihood of a child being diagnosed with migraine with aura – that is, with neurological disorders – has increased eightfold. According to the German Migraine and Headache Association, almost ten percent of children and adolescents in Germany suffer from migraines.

Headaches due to lack of exercise

According to scientists, it is difficult to identify clear links between headaches and environmental factors. However, low housing standards, low family economic status and many leisure activities are associated with an increased risk of headaches. And: “Studies show that the increase in headaches in children is closely linked to lack of movement,” explains psychologist Peter Kropp. “In children with a genetic predisposition, this can also trigger a migraine attack.”

Kropp emphasizes that resistance sports play a crucial role in preventing migraines. Not only for children, but also for adults. "Regular running, for example three times a week for 30 to 45 minutes, can reduce migraines by up to 50%. People who do not suffer from migraines but suffer from recurring tension headaches also benefit."

Unlike migraines, for which there is a genetic predisposition, tension headaches are often more of a warning sign. "Our body wants to tell us, for example, that we need to get away from the screen, move around and get some fresh air," says doctor and psychologist Hartmut Göbel from the Pain Clinic in Kiel.

Tension headache

Tension headaches are often described by sufferers as feeling as if their head is being squeezed. Like migraines, they are one of the so-called primary types of headache. In this case, the pain is a symptom of the disease. In contrast to secondary headaches, which occur, for example, as a result of a traumatic brain injury or other underlying disease. What all headaches have in common is that they do not originate in the brain, but outside it. The brain itself has no pain receptors and is therefore insensitive to pain. The headache is probably an inflammation of the meninges or large blood vessels.

Pain several times a month

Tension headaches are particularly common in children and adolescents. According to a survey by the University of Dresden, just over a third of the nearly 3,000 students surveyed reported suffering from headaches at least once a month. Almost as many reported experiencing more than two attacks a month.

It is especially important to avoid headaches becoming chronic. Then it is difficult to get rid of the pain. That is why doctors recommend a healthy lifestyle, with enough sleep, a balanced diet and regular exercise. In the case of migraine, this can reduce the number of attacks. Although this form of headache cannot be cured, it can disappear again during puberty.

(N. Rößler/ NDR)


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