74% of girls and 52% of boys have headaches at age 17, according to a Finnish study of 6,262 twins. At age 11, 60% of girls and 59% of boys had headaches at least once a month. The prevalence of weekly headaches increase d in girls from 16% to 25% between ages 11 and 14. Headaches in kids is a major problem, but unfortunately it does not receive proper attention. Sometimes parents do not believe that their child has a headache or if they do, they are reluctant to take the child to a doctor because they don’t want to resort to prescription medications. Fortunately, many non-drug approaches are very effective in kids. Regular sleep schedule (very hard to enforce in teenagers), regular meals, frequent aerobic exercise, biofeedback or meditation, and supplements can be very effective. Several studies have shown that kids with headaches are often deficient in magnesium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), and Co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10). If a child still has headaches, a medications may also be appropriate.
Read MorePhysical inactivity was strongly associated with headache disorders, according to a large study by Swedish researchers published in Headache. They looked at 43,770 people with recurrent headaches and migraines and found that economic hardship and psychosocial factors (poor social support and experience of being belittled) seem to play a role in headache disorders. Of lifestyle factors, physical inactivity was strongly associated with headache disorders, while smoking to a lesser extent. Skipping breakfast, being overweight and underweight seemed to be connected to headaches.
Read MoreWe always recommend exercise as one of the most effective preventive treatments for migraines and tension-type headaches. However, it appears that some patients may have difficult time exercising because of low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D receptors are located within muscle and are important for normal muscle activity. Michael Hooten and colleagues discovered that pain clinic patients who had low vitamin D levels had lower exercise tolerance as well as lower general health perception than patients with normal levels. Most people are familiar with the role of vitamin D in bone health. However, it has many other functions in the body. In addition to exercise tolerance, another unexpected effect of vitamin D deficiency is to worsen symptoms of gastro-esophageal reflux, which causes heartburn and other symptoms. Taking vitamin D supplements relieves reflux symptoms in some patients. Many people are not taking sufficient amounts of vitamin D. If deficiency is documented by a blood test, patients usually need to take 1000-2000 units a day.
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