The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that half of all adults have suffered from at least one headache in the past year. And 30 percent of those people have had a migraine.
Not all headaches feel the same. According to the Mayo Clinic, headaches can come on suddenly or gradually and occur on one or both sides of the head. Plus, they may present with sharp pain, dull pain and even throbbing.
The good news is that headache research has come a long way. "We know a lot more than we did 20 years ago about what causes headaches," Dr. Charles Flippen, associate professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA tells CBS News. "We know what areas of the brain are generating pain, but we don't have the whole picture."
Because all headaches are different, it helps to know a little bit about headaches in general. Here are four different types of headaches.
Tension Headache
According to Health.com, tension headaches are the most common type of headache that people experience. They give off a never-ending ache or pressure in the temples, the back of the head and the neck. But the pain isn’t as bad as it would be with a migraine. Nausea and vomiting are rare with tension headaches.
Health says that tension headaches are thought to occur when neck and scalp muscles contract and when brain chemistry changes. This type of headache can be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers.