
In both cases, you may wake up with lingering head pain. Sleep apnea causes a lack of oxygen and sleep loss, and teeth grinding makes your muscles tense. Headaches can also stem from sleep-related issues, such as sleep apnea and teeth grinding. As a result, your pain threshold may be lowered, leading to a bothersome headache. In particular, you may end up with too little REM sleep, which is the most restorative phase. When you sleep too little, you disrupt your normal sleep stages. So if you’re prone to migraines, stressful events may bring one on. Stress is also a potential migraine trigger. And when you eat or drink too little, headaches become likely. Stress can also affect your appetite or schedule, leading some people to skip or delay meals. You might lock up your neck or jaw muscles, for example, inviting head pain. And when you’re stressed out, your muscles may tense up without you realizing it. These common aches are linked with muscle tension. Stress also contributes to tension headaches.

This state often causes physical changes, such as constricted blood vessels, which can bring about pain, including of the headache variety. When you experience stress, your body may go into a fight-or-flight response. Stress is far more than an emotional issue.

Take a few moments to learn about the link between headaches and the problems of stress and sleep loss. Our expert team at Houston Pain Specialists, led by board-certified pain management specialist Hui Kang, MD, diagnoses and treats severe and recurrent headaches so you can get back to more comfortable living. Both stress and sleep loss can bring on headaches or make ongoing symptoms even worse. If you’ve noticed that headaches crop up when you’re especially stressed or low on sleep, it’s no coincidence. And while most everyone experiences the occasional headache, up to 4% of people experience a headache on 15 or more days per month. A headache can determine whether you have an enjoyable, productive day or suffer through at a seemingly snail’s pace.
