Can Anxiety Cause Headaches & What To Do About It

According to Advil anxiety causes tension headaches and migraines.

I don’t condone the use of Advil on a regular basis but I do agree with this statement somewhat!

Some people may think that anxiety and headaches aren’t related but they 100% are related and the fix for both of them can be the same as well. If you’re someone who struggles with them, that may bring you a sense of relief. 

Anxiety and headaches can both be related back to proper functioning of the body. Surprise surprise…I know.

Obviously if we are experiencing anxiety and headaches something in the body isn’t working correctly. Maybe your hormones are off. Maybe you have a food sensitivity or allergy you don’t know about. Maybe you’re putting yourself in situations that are too much for you to handle. The options are truly endless. 

What each one of those things cause in your body is they put your body into a state of panic…or we could almost say, a state of inflammation, or even what I like to call survival mode. Your body is no longer concerned about thriving and healing but is more concerned with surviving. This is something that’s good except when it’s happening at almost all hours of the day. 

Our body should be able to go into this survival mode when needed but when there are other things that we can’t adapt to and it forces our bodies into this survival/fight or flight mode we are in trouble. We need a way to regulate this and bring ourselves back into balance and into a thrival mode. 

With that being said, being stuck in this survival mode is what causes our anxiety and headaches. Physiologically when we are in this state of being our entire body is ramped up, almost as if there is a dimmer switch inside of us and it is cranked all the bright. This also causes an increase of blood pressure which is one of the causes of headaches for many people. 

This is why it feels like anxiety causes headaches…because they are directly related. Anxiety may be the first symptom you experience when your body goes into a state or survival, followed by a headache…or vice versa. If we can limit the amount of stress and times we are in this survival/fight or flight state we are going to be able to reduce our anxiety and the amount of headaches we experience. 

How to Escape This Feeling

Luckily there are a lot of things that you can do to help balance your nervous system so you can better handle stress and hopefully decrease your anxiety along with the headaches. Nervous system regulation and resetting your nervous system is really popular right now which is great for anxiety and headaches.

There are options that you’re able to do at home along with health practitioners you can go to that will help hold you accountable. We’ll start with the at home options first.

Ice baths and cold showers are the most intense things you can do at home that will help reset/regulate your nervous system. Research shows us that 12 minutes a week of cold therapy is what is needed to achieve this. Yes this is really hard to do but this one thing packs the most punch when it comes to nervous system regulation at home.

Some easier things include breathwork and meditation. A lot of people will think breathwork is the same as taking a deep breath or having a deep sigh. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Guided breathwork sessions on youtube are super easy to find and when you experience the right one in full, it can seriously be life changing. In the beginning meditation and breathwork is often really difficult for someone who hasn’t done it before. When you’re experiencing anxiety and headaches it’s really difficult to actually slow down your thoughts, but with enough practice you can become a master at this!

As for health practitioners that can help hold you accountable there are a few that can help a lot! Getting a good massage therapist can do wonders for allowing your body to relax and have you feel your greatest. In the Naples/Bonita area I recommend two depending on where you’re located. Elaine and Infinity Massage right off 5th Ave does an amazing job! More north and in downtown Bonita your go to would be Abbey at Rowan Wellness. Abbey is definitely more holistic if that’s also what you’re looking for!

Acupuncture can be a great benefit for anxiety and headaches too. By working with certain points in your body an acupuncturist is able to really calm your body and release a lot of tension. Dr. Deanna Carell in Naples is one of the best acupuncturists in my mind. She does focus on fertility for a lot of women but at the same time will be able to help you with headaches and anxiety. Check her out on Instagram or her website!

If you’ve already tried those two things, then what we do here at The Specific Chiropractic Naples might be your next best bet. Our goal is to balance the nervous system and keep it adapting to the stressors of everyday life the best it possibly can. We test the nervous system at every visit ensuring whether it is working correctly or if you need an adjustment. Overtime with a system that remains balanced we notice people will see a decrease in their anxiety and headaches.

If you’re someone who struggles with anxiety and headaches I hope you’ve found this blog to be helpful. It seem like our anxiety is causing our headaches but as we talked about they are actually caused by the exact same thing, a nervous system that is not regulated properly. Whether you decided to go full steam ahead in at home nervous system regulation exercises or know you need some accountability from a health professional I know you can get to the bottom of your anxiety and headaches, I’ve seen it time and time again!

Learn more.

Here are a few more posts on how chiropractic care can help those who suffer from headaches and/or migraines.