Migraines and Headaches: What's Really Happening in the Body

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By Luis Gustavo. See how we research and review our content.

Almost everyone has had a headache that seemed to come out of nowhere and ruin the entire day. But not all headaches are the same, and understanding the difference between a common tension headache and a migraine episode helps you deal with the problem better — including deciding what might ease the discomfort without turning into constant self-medication.

What causes headaches and migraine episodes

Tension headaches, the most common type, are usually linked to muscle tension in the neck and shoulders, accumulated stress, poor posture, or long hours in front of screens without a break. Migraine, on the other hand, is considered a more complex neurological condition, associated with temporary changes in brain electrical activity and blood flow — which is why it tends to come with symptoms beyond pain, like light sensitivity, nausea, and in some cases temporary visual disturbances known as aura. Common triggers reported by people who live with migraines include poor sleep, prolonged fasting, sudden weather changes, strong smells, and certain foods, although triggers vary a lot from person to person.

What neuroscience understands about migraines

Neurology research indicates that migraine has a significant genetic component — having a close relative with the condition increases the chance of developing it too. Studies also link migraine episodes to heightened nervous system sensitivity to external stimuli, which explains why bright light, loud sound, or even shifts in atmospheric pressure can bring on an episode in predisposed people. This doesn’t mean every intense headache is a migraine, nor that there’s a single cause — science treats the condition as multifactorial, which also explains why treatment tends to be individualized.

Everyday effects for people who deal with this

Lost productivity: a migraine episode can last from a few hours to a few days, making it hard to stay focused at work or school.
Heightened sensitivity to stimuli: light, sound, and even everyday smells can become unbearable during an episode, leading many people to seek out dark, quiet spaces.
Sleep disruption: pain can interfere with sleep at night, and sleep deprivation, in turn, may contribute to new episodes — a difficult cycle to break alone.
Emotional toll: living with recurring pain can generate anticipatory anxiety, the fear that the next episode will hit at an inconvenient moment.
Sensitivity to routine changes: skipping meals, sleeping less than usual, or even oversleeping on weekends are cited by many people with migraine as triggers, which makes keeping regular schedules a strategy many report as helpful.

Telling the two types of pain apart also helps when seeking medical care: while tension headaches are usually described as a constant pressure on both sides of the head, migraine is often reported as a throbbing, one-sided pain that worsens with physical activity and can last anywhere from 4 to 72 hours when untreated. That distinction alone shapes much of the conversation with a doctor about possible treatment approaches.

This is not a substitute for medical evaluation — frequent, intense headaches, or ones associated with other neurological symptoms, deserve assessment by a healthcare professional.

Common mistakes when trying to manage the pain alone

A frequent mistake is reaching for pain relievers too often without medical guidance, which can lead to what’s known as medication-overuse headache — a condition where the very medication used in excess ends up sustaining the pain cycle. Another common mistake is ignoring routine factors like mild dehydration, long stretches without eating, or irregular sleep, which can contribute to episodes even when they seem harmless on their own.

When it’s worth tracking your episodes

Many neurologists recommend keeping a simple headache diary, noting the time an episode starts, possible triggers from the hours before (meals, sleep, stress, weather), and how long it lasted. Over a few weeks, patterns often start to emerge that aren’t obvious in the moment — a certain food, a specific sleep schedule, or a stressful recurring event at work. That kind of record tends to make a follow-up appointment with a doctor far more productive than trying to describe the pattern from memory.

Ways to ease migraine discomfort day to day

Alongside medical guidance when needed, simple physical comfort measures tend to help a lot during an episode: dimly lit rooms, proper hydration, and cold compresses applied to the forehead or the back of the neck, which may help reduce the throbbing sensation through local vasoconstriction. Reusable gel compresses designed specifically for the head are a practical way to apply consistent cold without holding regular ice, which tends to drip and doesn’t conform to the shape of the head.

Since you made it this far, you’ll probably also like learning more about prolonged sun exposure and about sitting all day.