Why you might wake up with a headache and when to see a doctor

Research shows that around one in every 13 of us experience headaches in the morning.

Morning headaches are more common in women and in people between the ages of 45 and 64, but they can affect anyone.

There are many reasons why you might wake up with a sore head, and causes can range from dehydration and poor pasture to stress and grinding teeth.

So if you have been asking yourself, ‘Why do I wake up with a headache every morning?’ here are some potential reasons why.

A common cause of headaches is dehydration, which is when you lose more water than you take in. Morning headaches can occur if you become dehydrated overnight, either due to sweating or not drinking enough water the night before.

The good news is that dehydration is easily reversed. Try to replace the lost fluids during the day and your morning headaches should disappear.

The NHS has identified stress as a major headache trigger, particularly relaxing after stress.

This is because your stress hormones drop when the cause of tension subsides, which triggers a rapid release of neurotransmitters (chemical messenger that transmits signals between nerves). Neurotransmitters tell your blood vessels to constrict and dilate, which can cause pain in the form of headaches.

Your body relaxes during sleep, which could explain why a stressful day can cause a headache the following morning.

The NHS advises to introduce relaxation techniques like yoga or mindfulness, and not to sleep for more than 8 hours at a time, as this can cause headaches.

Your morning headache could even be explained by poor posture when you sleep. This creates tension in your upper back, neck or shoulders, which can in turn lead to headaches.

Headaches from bad posture are typically at the