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Frequent
headaches have been linked to an assortment of sleep disorders.
Up to 4% of adults suffer from chronic daily headache (CDH),
or headaches 15 or more days each month (that's over 180 headache
days per year). Some types of CDH generally last over four
hours per episode, including chronic migraines and tension-type
headaches.
Recently, researchers sought information about a possible
link between CDH and snoring. Using a randomly generated list
of telephone numbers in the Atlanta, Philadelphia and Baltimore
areas, nearly 3,000 adults with CDH and over 50,000 others
with less-frequent headaches (anywhere from none to about
100 days each year) were questioned about sleep and lifestyle
habits. Participants also reported on the frequency of snoring
in this study in the journal Neurology: never, less
than half of nights, more than half of nights, always or unknown.
 Habitual snoring, as defined by answering "always" on the
snoring-frequency survey, appeared in 24% of CDH sufferers
compared to only 14% of nonsufferers. In fact, individuals
suffering from chronic daily headache were almost three times
more likely to be habitual snorers than non-sufferers, after
ruling out other factors associated with snoring.
Do headaches cause sleep disorders, or do sleep disorders
cause headaches? We still don't have all the answers. But
the researchers cited one preventable cause of CDH: overuse
of medications, specifically sedatives for pain and depression.
Go easy on the medications, find a safe way to prevent snoring
and try to sleep more hours, and maybe you'll have fewer headaches
and better sleep. Talk to your chiropractor for more information.
Scher AI, Lipton RB, Stewart WF. Habitual
snoring as a risk factor for chronic daily headache. Neurology
2003:60, pp. 1366-1368.
To learn more about head and neck pain, go to https://www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/musculoskeletal.
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