Should I Work Out With A Headache? 5 Important Factors To Consider 

If you’re nauseous or have a fever, it’s probably quite obvious that you need to nix your workout for the day.

But what if you have a headache? You’ve probably found yourself asking, should I work out with a headache? Is working out with a headache a bad idea, or might it ease the headache and help me feel better?

In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of working out with a headache, whether you should work out with a headache, and tips for preventing headaches from interfering with your workouts.

We will discuss: 

• Should I Work Out With a Headache?

• Does Exercise Help Headaches?

Let’s get started!

Should I Work Out With a Headache?

The recommendations for working out with a headache are unclear, as the causes of a headache can be numerous. Some of the potential causes can make it such that working out may improve your headache, whereas working out with a headache in other situations can make the headache worse.

In fact, according to the National Headache Institute, exercise can potentially make a headache worse, depending on the cause of the headache.

Ultimately, it would be nice if we could neatly say that no matter what, you can work out with a headache, but whether or not you should work out with a headache is another story; however, the National Headache Institute reports that there are some potential causes of headaches that are quite severe in which working out with a headache can be quite dangerous.

Therefore, although these instances are rare, it cannot be said that it’s always safe to work out with a headache.

We will discuss the common causes of headaches and instances in which it is safe and even potentially helpful to exercise with a headache, along with times when headaches are caused by serious underlying medical issues wherein working out with a headache is contraindicated.

It is up to you to make your own decisions about whether you feel it is safe or helpful to work out with a headache, but we highly recommend speaking with your healthcare provider if you are indeed concerned about some of the potentially serious medical causes of certain headaches.

Does Exercise Help Headaches?

When asking yourself, can I work out with a headache, take the different causes of headaches into consideration.

Let’s take a look at the potential causes or factors that can contribute to developing a headache.

#1: Tension Headaches

One of those common types of headaches is a tension headache, which is caused by muscle tension in the head, neck, or elsewhere in the body.

In these cases, exercise can definitely help improve your headache.

Working out can decrease stress and will increase circulation to your muscles, potentially reducing stiffness and tension, opening up blood vessels, and increasing blood flow to the brain.

One of the good things about working out with a headache in general, even if you are not sure of the underlying cause of the headache, is that if you begin with some light exercise, you should be able to get an idea of whether exercising is helping your headache or making it worse within a matter of several minutes.

For example, if you were planning on doing a 5-mile run but you have a pretty bad headache, you can start with some brisk walking or easy jogging for a few minutes. If you find that your head is pounding and thundering, you should stop and walk home or consider some lower-impact exercise such as walking or riding an exercise bike.

You can then see if reducing the impact on your body while still being physically active helps ameliorate your headache symptoms or continues to make the headache worse.

In many cases, the jarring nature of running and other high-impact exercises can jostle your head and neck and contribute to increasing tension and pressure in your head, which will make working out with a headache worse. 

However, if you switch to a low-impact exercise, you might find that working out with a headache actually improves the severity of your headache rather than making it worse.

One caveat here is swimming. Even though swimming is essentially a non-impact activity, swimming can often make a headache worse.

There is often some amount of breath holding, even if you are a skilled swimmer and very comfortable in the water; the added hydrostatic pressure from being underwater can sometimes increase the severity of a headache.

Of course, you can always try a couple of minutes of easy swimming if you have a headache and see how you feel, but you might want to swap your swimming workout for an above-water activity when you have a headache before your workout begins.

#2: Dehydration 

Another common cause of headaches is dehydration. When you are dehydrated, working out with a headache will make the headache worse because you will be further dehydrating your body.

During exercise, we sweat and lose more body water through increased respiration (losing water vapor as we exhale).

Unless you properly rehydrate before your workouts, you will likely find that just drinking the normal amount of fluid that you typically take in during a workout will not be enough to counteract the dehydration that has caused your headache in the first place.

If you are trying to troubleshoot why you have a headache in the first place and discover that you have not been hydrating well during the day, it’s advisable to try to rehydrate as fast as possible and push the workout off for an hour or so to allow your body time to absorb your fluids before exercising. 

Adding electrolytes to your water can help increase the rate of absorption so that you can restore optimal hydration status sooner, resolve your headache, and get on with your workout.

#3: Fatigue

If you slept really poorly or have not been getting an adequate amount of sleep, or if you are otherwise exhausted for one reason or another, you may develop a headache from being overtired.

Here, deciding whether or not to work out with a headache really comes down to the type of workout you have planned, how tired you are, your overall health, and how poorly you slept.

#4: Low Blood Sugar

In the way that dehydration can cause a headache, low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia can also result in a headache. Additional symptoms of low blood sugar can include irritability, hunger, lightheadedness, low energy, and shakiness.

Again, as with the case of working out when you are dehydrated, exercising when you have low blood sugar is only going to exacerbate the issue.

Plus, with severe hypoglycemia, your balance, coordination, decision-making ability, and strength are impaired. Therefore, working out with a headache due to low blood sugar is inadvisable.

If you still want to get your workout in, have a high-carbohydrate snack, such as fresh or dried fruit, fig newtons, gram crackers, fruit juice, applesauce, a granola bar or energy bar, or a bowl of cereal, before your workout. This will help increase your blood sugar levels more rapidly. 

You can also have a sports drink during your workout to help replenish blood sugar and glycogen levels as you exercise.

However, if you have type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, or other problems regulating your blood sugar and insulin levels, you should take more caution with restoring your blood sugar levels before engaging in exercise.  

Discuss blood sugar management with your doctor if this is a consistent or recurring issue. You may need to make adjustments to your diet or medication regimen.

#5: Migraines 

Many people suffer from migraines, and the cause of migraine headaches is still somewhat unclear. When experiencing a migraine headache, you often have sensitivity to light, and you also experience other visual disturbances, such as the presence of an aura.

Working out with a migraine often makes the headache worse. However, every individual who experiences migraines may have a somewhat different response.

If you have a migraine and would like to try exercise, it might be best to do a workout at home in a dimly-lit room.

Commercial gyms often have harsh overhead lights or fluorescent lighting, which may be quite bothersome when you have a migraine. Fresh air can be helpful, but if it is really bright and sunny out, you may be bothered by the light.

Overall, working out with a headache may or may not be helpful.

In most cases, it doesn’t hurt to try some light exercise and then assess whether your headache is getting better or worse. However, if you have a known cause of the headaches, such as dehydration or low blood sugar, you should work to rectify the issue causing the headache before engaging in exercise. 

Most importantly, if you have an underlying medical condition that might be causing a concerning headache, you should seek medical attention immediately and certainly hold off on working out.

Now that we’ve answered your question, “can I work out with a headache” why don’t we look into some other common ailments, such as a cold? For our guide on whether or not you should work out with a cold, click here.

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10 Surprising Times to Hit the Gym

You can probably come up with any number of excuses for skipping the gym, but before you throw yourself a pity party, read these surprising facts about which medical conditions actually benefit from exercise and which don’t.

Medically Reviewed

When you were a kid, you may have tried every excuse to get out of gym class. As an adult, with no one threatening to flunk you, it’s still tempting to find reasons not to exercise. Tickle in your throat? Achy joints? A headache? All tempting reasons to skip the gym.

Although exercise isn’t a one-size-fits-all cure, there are certain health conditions that you can and should exercise your way through — after you talk to your doctor. Find out which ailments and medical situations mean you should ditch the sneakers, and which conditions should motivate you to exercise even more.

You’re Recovering From Surgery

Hit the Gym: If you’ve had minor surgery, it might be fine to go straight back to the gym. According to recent studies, bariatric surgery patients and most cancer patients can benefit enormously from post-surgery workout regimes, whereas people who have had joint replacements and those who have undergone certain types of plastic surgery should be careful of their activities.

But Be Careful: The amount and intensity of exercise you can handle post surgery depends on your condition and the type of surgery. Ask your surgeon for details on your post-surgery capabilities, and if you get the okay, start slowly and stretch a lot. Remember, it might take a while to get back to 100 percent.

You Have a Cold or Allergies

Hit the Gym: If you’ve got the sniffles, you may be more inclined to reach for your remote than your gym bag. Not so fast, the experts say: Not only is it safe to exercise your way through a cold, but it also might make you feel better. According to Leah Mooshil Durst, MD, medical director of the Friend Family Health Center, Inc., and clinical associate at the University of Chicago, research shows that a cold virus-carrying body responds no differently to exercise than a healthy body. In fact, some research has found that working out through a cold help patients feel temporary relief.

But Be Careful: Cold symptoms can worsen if your cold has left you dehydrated, so proceed with caution and drink plenty of water. You should also avoid exercise if you have a fever, a serious cough, body aches, flu symptoms, or a cold coupled with a chronic health condition such as heart disease or asthma.

You Have a Headache

Hit the Gym: If your headache sets in before you’ve laced up your sneakers, there’s probably no reason to cancel your workout plans. According to Nabih Ramadan, MD, a neurologist at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, it’s a myth that exercise and headaches don’t mix. Exercise reduces stress and improves cardiovascular fitness, so it may soothe the pain right out of your head.

But Be Careful: In very rare cases, exercise can actually induce headaches or migraines. If this is true for you, you can ward off the pain by taking an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication one to four hours prior to exercising, or by considering and treating your less-obvious migraine triggers, such as hunger, dehydration, and lack of sleep. Avoid high-impact workouts, such as running or kickboxing, as they may aggravate the headaches.

You Have COPD

Hit the Gym: If you’re one of the 12 million Americans living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), then exercise can pose a challenge. Heat and humidity may exacerbate your breathing problems, and shortness of breath may frustrate your efforts. Still, according to a recent study at the Cleveland Clinic, regular exercise is vital to your well-being with COPD; it improves circulation and helps your body better use oxygen, builds your energy levels, and lowers your blood pressure.

But Be Careful: If you’re just starting an exercise routine, ask your doctor for recommendations, and start slow. Focus your fitness and rehabilitation program on lower-body aerobic exercises, such as walking, water aerobics, or riding a stationary bike. You may also consider using a bronchodilator to relax and open your airways prior to working out.

You’re Pregnant

Hit the Gym: Only one of every six pregnant women actually gets the recommended amount of physical activity, which is 30 or more minutes of moderate physical activity on a near-daily basis, says Terry Leet, PhD, associate professor of community health at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. And the benefits of prenatal exercise extend far beyond health maintenance. According to a recent study by Capt. Marlene DeMaio, MD, research director of the Naval Medical Center, low to moderate levels of exercise improve a pregnant woman’s health by easing back and musculoskeletal pain, lowering maternal blood pressure, reducing swelling, and improving postpartum moods. DeMaio says that science has debunked previous concerns that exercise was detrimental to the fetus, and recommends that even the most inactive of mothers-to-be embark on fitness regimens. Your baby — and your back — will thank you later.

But Be Careful: Your second trimester is not the time to take up a new kickboxing hobby, so talk to your doctor to find out which type of exercise will work best for you. If you didn’t exercise pre-pregnancy, low-impact workouts such as yoga and walking might be a good starting point. You may need to modify favorite workouts depending on your stage of pregnancy; for example, women are advised not to lie flat on their backs after the first trimester.

You Have Osteoarthritis or Joint Pain

Hit the Gym: Although arthritis pain is likely to keep you on the bench, research has shown that regular exercise is actually a very effective — and highly recommended — form of treatment. “Exercise strengthens the muscles around the joints to protect the joints and provide [extra] support,” says Anne Menz, PhD, a physical therapist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Be sure to consult with your doctor before starting a new fitness routine — she can suggest appropriate aerobic and resistance-training exercises. You may want to join an arthritis-specific group in your neighborhood for team walks, ballroom dance classes, or low-impact swimming.

But Be Careful: Repetitive motion can cause arthritis pain to flare up, so plan your activity around exercises that you know won’t aggravate your symptoms. For example, if gripping a heavy weight hurts, try a routine that uses the resistance of your own body as weight, such as Pilates.

You Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Hit the Gym: If you’re like the majority of IBS patients, you lead a relatively sedentary life – but there’s no reason you should be less active than anyone else, a recent study found. When Swedish scientists assigned one group of IBS patients to a regular exercise routine and told one group to maintain their usual lifestyle, the active patients experienced symptom reductions by an average of 51 percent. Although exercise isn’t a primary cure for IBS, it has been proven to reduce stress, boost general health, and help with gastrointestinal problems like constipation.

But Be Careful: If you have IBS, you probably already know that certain foods can soothe your symptoms. Before you begin an exercise program, make sure you’re eating right to fuel your body — without causing a flare up. Because stress can also aggravate your symptoms, try moves that blend exercise and stress-reduction such as yoga, tai chi, mediation, and light aerobic activities.

You’re Menopausal

Hit the Gym: A study published in the Journal of Menopause found that just three hours of moderate aerobic exercise per week can dramatically reduce signs of menopause and increase your quality of life. There’s some debate about whether exercise decreases hot flashes, but one study found that women who did yoga or other physical exercises five days a week for an hour reduced the frequency of their hot flashes. Mind-body fitness expert Debbie Rosas recommends “fire breaths” to shorten the duration of your hot flashes: Breathe in and out through your nose very rapidly, while pulling the abdomen in toward your diaphragm during exhalation and out during inhalation.

But Be Careful: As with any exercise plan, talk to your doctor before you get started. If you have another health condition such as heart disease, be especially careful when starting a new routine.

You Live With Chronic Pain

Hit the Gym: When you’re plagued by chronic pain, it’s important to use all the tools at your disposal to feel better. To help ease day-to-day pain, you should first turn — paradoxically — to physical activities that are more challenging than your daily routines. Unlike medication, physical activity can actually treat the underlying source of your pain and will improve chronic pain symptoms in the long run.

But Be Careful: Don’t wait for your physician to recommend exercise — a recent study showed that less than 50 percent of patients suffering from chronic back or neck pain are prescribed exercise. Instead, ask your healthcare provider for specific suggestions on how to alleviate your symptoms. It’s important to follow a supervised program that emphasizes stretching and strengthening exercises, as well as low-impact activities like swimming and cycling.

You’re Quitting Smoking

Hit the Gym: Many smokers don’t quit because they don’t want to gain weight. It’s time to drop that excuse, and incorporate exercise into your daily routine. There are many psychological and physical benefits to exercising away your addiction, including limiting weight gain and combating cravings, says Norman H. Edelman, MD, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. Studies show that withdrawal symptoms and cigarette cravings decrease during exercise and remain low for as long as 50 minutes afterwards. Exercise will decrease your appetite, canceling out the no-fun constant cravings that can occur when you stop smoking, and it will help you cope with stress and mood swings. Plus, the longer you’ve gone without smoking, the easier it will be to exercise.

But Be Careful: Because smoking damages your lungs, you might find exercising to be harder than you remembered. With that in mind, it’s important to start a fitness routine you can stick with. Grab a buddy or hire a personal trainer to keep you moving.

Everything is in your head: popular psychosomatics (and how to treat yourself)

Skin problems

Blockage at work, approaching deadlines, not a drop of free time, and even suddenly jumped up acne or dermatitis – such a chain of events should immediately to alert you and push you to take a deep breath and stop being nervous. “Stress is the main enemy of healthy skin,” say doctors specializing in psychodermatology, a special branch of medicine that studies the relationship between the psyche and the skin. An uncontrolled change of emotions is usually accompanied by the release of a hormone from the pituitary gland, which tries to overcome stress hormones, which in turn leads to hormonal changes and, as a result, skin problems. Stress also causes blood vessels to dilate, giving way to inflammatory cells. The more nervous we are, the more likely we are to develop blackheads, acne, or even psoriasis.

Your treatment:

Training . Physical exercise is the best anti-stress, for which the skin will definitely thank you. Daily exercise reduces the risk of psoriasis in women by 30%.

Stick to a clear daily routine . In a period of increased stress, another effective medicine in your arsenal is the control of personal affairs. If there are problems at work, do everything so that there are no force majeure at home. Controlling at least part of your life sends positive signals to the brain, which also helps fight stress. In addition, go to bed, get up for work, have dinner at the same time – this disciplines and does not allow emotions to take over.

Digestive problems

According to recent research, our gut contains more neurons than our spinal cord. Moreover, scientists have found that certain types of bacteria living in the intestines are able to literally communicate with our brain using special signals – hormones and neurotransmitters. If you are a nervous person and worry about every little thing, then you are much more likely to catch irritable bowel syndrome than those who are not used to worrying about trifles. This is especially true for those who have been mentally traumatized in childhood. According to doctors, about 60% of patients with irritable bowel syndrome confirm the stress experienced in their youth. This is presumably due to the fact that it is the stress experienced in childhood that upsets the balance of the nervous system, and also affects the intestinal bacteria.

Your treatment:

Keep things simple. You may want to de-stress with grueling gym workouts, but if you have bowel problems, moderate your ardor – vigorous exercise will only exacerbate unpleasant symptoms. As gastroenterologists comment, moderate physical activity is your best friend. Swimming, walking, yoga are great.

Hypnotherapy . One of the latest studies has found that hypnotherapy aimed at treating bowel disease really relieves acute pain in the gastrointestinal tract, and also has an anti-stress effect on the body.

Research conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, has confirmed that the consumption of foods with probiotics and prebiotics significantly reduces anxiety as well as symptoms of IBS. It will not be superfluous to include kefir and sauerkraut in your diet.

Headaches

According to many studies, sensitive people who are easily stressed and anxious suffer from headaches and migraines many times more often than others. Stress triggers the release of chemicals that dilate the blood vessels that lead to the brain, eventually causing headaches.

Your treatment:

Drink plenty of water and eat regularly. When we are too busy or anxious about something, we tend to skip meals, which is a direct cause of migraines, neurologists comment. Water will also help reduce pain – at least 1.5 liters per day.

Cut down on caffeine and painkillers. Oddly enough, a headache also occurs with excessive medication. Here, doctors advise, first of all, to give up bad habits and products such as coffee, strong tea and even chocolate. In the first few days of being unaccustomed, you may feel worse, but in the long run, the body will thank you.

Menstruation

Often, stress completely disrupts our menstrual cycle, which can eventually lead to many gynecological diseases, and in extreme cases, to infertility. Researchers from Emory University set up an interesting experiment. Inviting women with elevated levels of cortisol in the blood (the stress hormone), who at the same time stopped ovulation and menstruation, the scientists suggested that they undergo anti-stress therapy. The result exceeded all expectations: 80% of women started menstruating again.

Stress aggravates the process of PMS, as it leads to increased secretion of the hormone testosterone, which, in principle, is not characteristic of the female body. Even the way you think about your mental health can have a detrimental effect, researchers say. The fact is that many girls are still terrified and disgusted with the nature of menstruation, and many adult women live with this feeling for the rest of their lives.

Your treatment:

Explore your body . Consider the onset of PMS as your body’s signal that it’s time for you to rest. When you get your period, try to protect yourself from any irritating factors as much as possible.

Take magnesium . Magnesium perfectly relaxes muscles and relieves stress. The best way is to take salt baths, because this way magnesium will also enter your body through the skin, which is doubly beneficial.

Balance your diet. If your diet includes a huge amount of sugar and carbohydrates, then you run the risk of experiencing an increase in insulin in the blood. The consequences can be the most unpleasant: for example, your testosterone level will increase, which will not only adversely affect your beauty, but also bring big problems with the menstrual cycle.

Joint pain

Continued stress can interfere with the brain’s ability to produce the hormone dopamine, as well as other chemicals that can relieve physical pain, including joint pain.

Your treatment:

Don’t ignore pain. Many osteopaths believe that pain is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong. For example, pain in the back and shoulders indicates that we work too much in the office, and our body can no longer endure it. You need to communicate with your body, and if you experience pain, try to understand what caused it.

Do yoga . Yoga is an excellent remedy for both joint pain and head problems. Most importantly, make sure that yoga does not damage your joints – for this, consult your doctor and personal trainer.

Meditate . Research shows that just 12 minutes a day of lying on the floor in silence can have a positive effect on brain function. It is better to conduct such sessions in the morning: this will give you peace and confidence for the whole day.

Photo: Getty Images

Olga Trukhina

Headache in office workers

What the article is about:

An office in the city center is a white-collar dream. Prestige and status, ample opportunities for professional growth and career advancement, an atmosphere of big money: panoramic windows, glass and metal, the quiet noise of expensive air conditioners … However, once there, for some reason, a person cannot work in peace: now his constant problem is a headache . Why does it occur and how to deal with it?

Causes of headaches in office workers

Headaches in office workers are common. Sometimes they are caused by chronic or acute stress, but another important cause of cephalalgia in office workers is oxygen starvation.

Clerks are forced to spend most of their working day sitting at a computer, often in an unphysiological position with a rounded back, which blocks the full supply of oxygen to the brain. The static position of the spinal column leads to compression and squeezing of the vessels that feed the brain. This is a violation of blood circulation and leads to pain.

Headaches are also aggravated by a lack of oxygen in the room itself, since it is often deprived of natural ventilation, and the freshness of the air is simply imitated: the air conditioner cools the existing one over and over again.

Prevention and treatment of headaches

How to deal with a headache in such a situation? Obviously, pills will not solve the problem, but only mask it.

In a special study, it was found that lifestyle plays an important role in the development of headaches, in particular physical inactivity ¹ .

Another scientific study found that a 12-month training program that combines stretching, endurance and strength exercises can significantly reduce headaches with ² .

The solution is to supplement your schedule with exercise to help offset the negative effects of prolonged sitting at work.

However, this may not be enough. In addition, regular physical activity, preferably in the fresh air, is more likely to prevent headache attacks in the future than to change the situation here and now.

Coping with stress does not always help either. The practice of breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson also work rather for the future.

You can quickly get rid of a headache that occurs at the end of the working day with the help of transcranial magnetic therapy.

Transcranial magnetotherapy for the treatment of headaches

Transcranial magnetotherapy is a gentle treatment of the brain using magnetic fields.

A low-frequency pulsed field generated by a magnetotherapy device helps to remove spasms from the muscles of the neck and head, from the vessels of the brain, open the smallest capillaries and help the blood supply the brain with oxygen. It also promotes the production of the hormone serotonin, which improves the emotional state.

All this affects the main factors that cause headaches in office workers – emotional and physical stress, spasm of muscles and blood vessels, provoked by oxygen starvation of the brain.

Using transcranial magnetotherapy, a headache can be removed in 15 minutes, and a course of treatment makes it possible to make attacks less frequent.

For this, special physiotherapy devices are used, the inductors of which can be assembled into a headband. Among these devices, there are also portable ones, which allow you to use the latest achievements of science for home treatment.

Things to remember

1. Office workers often suffer from headaches, which are usually caused by stress, muscle tension and lack of oxygen in the brain.
2. For the prevention of headaches, they can be recommended regular physical and breathing exercises, muscle relaxation according to Jacobson.
3. It is better to relieve pain during an attack not with a pill that only masks it, but with the help of transcranial magnetotherapy, which works with the cause of pain.
4. The low-frequency pulsed field of a special physiotherapy apparatus removes spasms of the muscles of the neck, head and blood vessels, thereby helping the blood to supply the brain with oxygen. It also promotes the production of the hormone serotonin, which improves the emotional state.
5. Using transcranial magnetotherapy, a headache can be removed in 15 minutes, and a course of treatment makes attacks less frequent. For this, special physiotherapy devices are used, among which there are also portable ones, which makes it possible to use advanced scientific achievements for home treatment.