Headaches are a common health problem —

most people experience them at some time.

Factors that lead to headaches may be:

 emotional, such as stress, depression, or anxiety

 medical, such as migraine or high blood pressure
 physical, such as an injury
 environmental, such as the weather

Frequent or severe headaches can affect a person’s quality of life. Knowing

how to recognize the cause of a headache can help a person take appropriate
action.

Causes
Share on Pin terest A broad range of conditions and factors can cause headaches.

A headache can affect any part of the head, and pain may be present in one
or several locations.

Headaches can cause various types of pain, and classifying the pain can help
a doctor reach a diagnosis.

Doctors also categorize headaches based on whether an underlying health

condition is responsible for the pain. In other words, a headache may be
primary or secondary, the International Headache Society note.

Primary headaches

A primary headache is not a symptom of an underlying illness. Instead, these

headaches result from problems involving the structures of the head and
neck.

A primary headache may be due to overactivity of:

  specific areas of the brain
 blood vessels
 muscles
 nerves
 brain chemicals

Common types of primary headaches include cluster and tension headaches.

Also, headaches can result from using medication for the pain too often. In
this case, a person has a medication overuse headache, and this is another
type of primary headache.

Secondary headaches

These are symptoms of underlying medical conditions. The cause of a

secondary headache may be: