Here it comes… the pressure over your left eye, the blurred vision, the feeling like there is a vice squeezing your head and now the throbbing pain has you searching for somewhere to hide.

You are getting another headache.

Luckily this time it’s just a “normal” headache… the kind you seem to get ONLY a couple times a week. That’s so much better than one of those nasty migraine headaches that debilitate you every month!

Of course, they always seem to appear when you have a million things to do and they make every single task exponentially more difficult to complete.

So now comes the most important question:

What are you going to do about it?

Are you planning on doing something different than you normally would, something that could PERMANENTLY stop your headaches?

The headaches keep coming back right? There must be one thing or most likely a few different things that continue to cause your headaches. If you knew what those things were, wouldn’t you prefer to address them instead of simply masking the symptoms?

Let’s be clear, I don’t think there is anything wrong with drugs, oils, rubs, or anything else that you’ve been doing. I know when used properly they can really help, but in most cases they just silence the message and don’t correct the problem making the message necessary.

The pain signals you are experiencing or what you call a head “ache” are similar to elevated blood sugar in a diabetic.  They are what we call COLLATERAL DAMAGE.  Put another way, they are NOT the real problem.

With Type II Diabetes the CORE PROBLEM is damage to specific pancreatic cells making it difficult to properly metabolize glucose.  With your headaches, there is a mix of potential CORE PROBLEMS that need to be addressed.  These may not be the only components at work but addressing these 5 will be a great start so you can start enjoying a headache-free life.

1. Emotional or Psychological Stress

Believe it or not, emotional stress is the number one cause of physical pain. If you are worried about your kids, the bills, your relationship, your job, finances… you can bet this is one of the main problems at the CORE of your situation.

2. Poor Diet

Since you are what you digest from what you eat… fuel is at the CORE of how your body functions.  Eat the wrong foods and your body is left without the fundamental building blocks to operate.

The absence of the right foods or the presence of the wrong ones can set your hormones out of balance, altering blood flow and contribute to your headaches.

3. Lack of Sleep

The link between poor sleep quality and headaches is not just bad luck.  In addition to affecting chemical messaging systems, sleep loss also decreases pain threshold.  This means the same life stresses that our body would typically adapt to easily, in the absence of quality sleep, could trigger headaches and other pain syndromes.

4. Dehydration

Dehydration can cause the brain tissue to shrink and pull away from the skull.  When this happens, pain receptors are activated and your head hurts!

5. Structural Distortions

The spine is one of the most amazing organs in the body.  Not only does it physically protect the nervous system, it is also permeated with receptors vital to the delivery of information to and from the brain.

When an abnormality with the spine occurs it can irritate surrounding tissues like discs, ligaments and muscles, but more importantly it disturbs the normal input and output cycles leading to COLLATERAL DAMAGE, which, in some cases could be headaches.

Life By Design Chiropractors are experts in detecting these CORE PROBLEMS with the spine and correcting them.

Are there more CORE PROBLEMS that could be causing your headaches? The answer is yes.

But these are the major ones and they are also the easiest to address. You can start doing them right away with little effort and maximize benefit.

Let’s remember, your headache is NOT caused by a lack of Tylenol in the blood.  In fact, at the root of every challenge are CORE PROBLEMS that need to be detected and corrected. Not only will this approach make your headaches better, it will improve everything else in your life too.

Dr. Michael Gibson has committed himself to helping others to live the best life possible. After graduating with a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario, he received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree and Masters of Science in Chiropractic Sports Science from Life University. He is the co-creator of Life By Design, owner of The Wellness Group, and co-owner of CrossFit 613. His passion for empowering families runs deep. After experiencing the loss of his sister due to illness, Michael’s purpose became reaching and teaching as many as possible the foundational principles of an extraordinary life. Since that time he has passionately pursued and been successful in living out his dream. He maintains a busy family chiropractic practice, a full speaking schedule and finds time to implement the principles and practices of Life By Design in his own life.