Many people complain of headaches due to pain. Additionally, headaches can be very disruptive. They may cause you to miss out on social events or not be able to perform at your usual self. If your headache pains are severe, you may even feel the need to become bedridden. Do not feel as if you are alone or the only one suffering from headache pains.
The following statistics on headache proves this:
- About 45 million Americans suffer from chronic headaches per year. This is made up of roughly 20 million females and 25 million males. This represents a prevalence of chronic headaches that is roughly 1 out of every six people. Percentage-wise, 6.54 percent of all Americans experience the agony of a chronic headache condition.
- In the United States in the year of 2001 alone, there were 9,876,000 visits to doctors by patients seeking some sort of relief for their headache pains.
- A study in Australia that was created in 1995 showed that a full 15 percent of the Australian population used headache medications. The survey also showed that the most commonly reported recent illness suffered by the survey group was a headache.
- Studies have shown that not everybody has had a headache. As a matter of fact, a study done by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke showed that about 10 percent of men have never had a headache and 5 percent of women haven’t either. The same study also stated that migraines caused a major loss of work power throughout the population. Sufferers of migraines were shown to miss a collective 157 million workdays throughout one year.
- There are many different types of headaches. First, they are classified by the ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ categories. Primary headaches are the most commonly occurring, with an estimated 90 percent of all headaches being primary. Tension headaches, migraine headaches, and cluster headaches are all different subcategories of primary headache.
Secondary headaches, on the other hand, are headaches that occur due to another underlying problem. Secondary headaches are far more dangerous as the underlying condition can cause serious damage to your health.
- Most people start experiencing migraines between the ages of 5 and 8. Migraines can be hereditary. Tension headaches are definitely the most common, with roughly 69 percent of all males experiencing problems with them as well as 88 percent of all females. They usually occur between the ages of 9 and 12.
Although most headaches and migraines are non life threatening, it is easy to see that headaches can result in a drop in productivity as this condition affects millions. Hence, if you have a chronic headache sufferer, do take action by becoming proactive in seeking a treatment or solution. That is the only way to improve the quality of your life and well-being.