Exercise Induced Headaches (EIH), also known as exertion headaches, are terrible pulsating headaches that appear very suddenly, most commonly during intense exercise (and during orgasm). The pain is so intense and they occur so abruptly that they have been given the nickname of “thunderclap headache”. For me, the pain originates in my neck at the base of my skull and seems to pulsate to the beat of my heart. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I am not giving medical advice. I am a sufferer of EIH and am just collating my information. If you are suffering headaches then I always recommend visiting a doctor first.
What causes Exercise Induced Headaches?
Sadly, my research has failed to find a definitive answer as to what causes EIH. Some of the proposed reasons I have read include: pushing your body too hard, unlucky genetics for migraine sufferers, not warming up, dehydration, and poor technique during exercise. Let’s look at each of these:
Proposed Theory 1: Pushing too hard?
I have recently started a high-intensity training program which involves me pushing myself to the point of failure in my weights routine. That is, I push until I could not go any further even if my life depended on it. But thousands (maybe millions) of people around the world follow this concept, including my most dedicated gym friends, without EIH.
Conclusion: Nope.
Proposed Theory 2: Unlucky genetics for migraine suffers?
The fact that the causes of migraines are still relatively unknown, or at least vary from person to person, causes immediate skepticism but I also have doubts based on my own migraine experiences. I contribute many migraines (mine included) to stress and anxiety and while some people may argue that pushing until muscle failure causes stress on the body I think it is a weak link at best.
Conclusion: Maybe.
Proposed Theory 3: Not warming-up enough?
My first occurrence of EIH was around 2007. It was during my gym routine (chest press to be precise) which started with 30 minutes cardio and stretching. Needless to say I was quite warm when it happened.
Conclusion: No, no, no.
Proposed Theory 4: Dehydration?
I drink lots of water. An average day for me is in the 2-3 litre range while at work, and then more when I exercise. During my first occurrence of EIH in 2007 I was drinking 1 litre of water throughout each workout. However the latest occurrence (Jan 2011) I may have been dehydrated so I wont completely rule this out yet.
Conclusion: Doubtful.
Proposed Theory 5: Poor technique during exercise?
I love my sports and exercise but I have not been much of a gym junkie. My first venture to the gym was 2006 and was mainly because I wasn’t playing any sport at the time so I wanted to stay active and keep fit. Same again for 2010/11. So I am a relative muppet when it comes to weights. Sure I have done the research, read up on technique, and watched the pros, but is that enough? Probably not. Combining that with the fact that I have never had an EIH while playing sport makes me believe it is my poor technique at the gym that is the main culprit.
Another compelling argument for this is my lack of strength. I am naturally thin (“built for endurance” I was told in school) and my muscles are slow to develop, so when busting out weights at the gym I believe that my body compensates by using muscles other than the target areas to help.
Conclusion: Likely.
Orgasm/Sex headaches: The end of the world.
The news for EIH sufferers gets worse – it can happen during orgasm. I could probably handle getting the odd EIH at the gym, but appearing in the bedroom is a no-no. Sex is a wonderful thing and to have it ruined by a such a suddenly severe pain in the back of the head is just not cool.
My conclusion is that while headaches do occur during orgasms they do not create EIH but will aggravate an existing condition.
Interestingly, I never have this problem unless I have recently suffered an EIH at the gym. Some people think it is the exertion involved in sex that causes the headache and in their case maybe they are right. But my conclusion is that while headaches do occur during orgasms they do not create EIH but will aggravate an existing condition. For me it can even happens when I “ride the unicycle” which is not a very intensive physical activity.
Even with my conclusion that sex was not the cause, it is the very occurrence of an orgasm headache which sealed the deal and made me go see a doctor.
What my Doctor Said
My doctor’s explanation was pretty simple. He said that through the neck runs big blood vessels (and nerves) that connect to the brain, and during certain activities (i.e. exercise) we can strain these blood vessels just like we can strain our muscles. When we have a particularly large strain in our neck we will often get headaches, most notably when we have large quantities of blood pumping through the area at high speed. Doubly so when the area is under tension. Which sounds very much like what occurs during high-intensity exercise and orgasms.
It made sense to me, and just like when straining a muscle, the recommendation was simple – rest. He recommended two weeks complete rest (no gym, no sex) to let the blood vessel recover from the strain. I followed his advice and sure enough my headaches were gone, but so was my confidence at the gym.
How to Beat Exercise Induced Headaches
I am not going to let EIH win. I want to be able to push myself to failure at the gym (because that is when you get the biggest gain from your muscles) without fearing another explosion of pain in my head. So here is my laundry list of things to do in order to overcome EIH:
- Visit a doctor, preferably a specialist;
- Assess blood pressure and make adjustments if necessary;
- Rest again before recommencing weights workout;
- Daily neck relaxation exercises;
- Practice correct breathing technique during exercise; and
- Focus on only using target muscles and relaxing everything else.
I will provide a progress report in a few weeks. In meantime, if you are an EIH sufferer then my heart goes out to you and if you have any tips, tricks or information that you think helps then I would love to hear from you.
Update 15/06/11: I took a little longer than a “few weeks” but I did manage to write a progress report on my EIH and how I beat it. Check it out here.
13 comments
2 pings
Rachel says:
February 27, 2011 at 10:48 pm (UTC 10)
White Flower Oil was introduced to me by my mother. During one of my headaches, she gave me this tiny bottle of oil and told me to massage it on my temples and forehead. Amazingly, it worked! Somehow the oil penetrates into the affected area and relieves the pain.
Zac Sky says:
June 15, 2011 at 10:04 am (UTC 10)
I might have to try that next time. Thanks Rachel.
Travis says:
June 14, 2011 at 9:54 am (UTC 10)
Hey Zac,
Thanks for this post! I believe I may be experiencing EIH, and
Am very frustrated because I’ve been making great progress following
The geek to freak workout… After your 2 week break, how did you prevent
From slipping back into EIH? I’ve never had this happen and I’ve worked
Out for years (yet I’ve never pushed myself this hard either)
My other hunch is that it may be caused by the geek to freak supplementation routine… However, I didn’t experience EIH until
Workout number 3 and I’d been taking all the supplements for over a week by that point, so… Who knows?
Any thoughts/tips/suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Zac Sky says:
June 15, 2011 at 10:03 am (UTC 10)
Hey Travis,
I feel for you. I know how bad EIH can be and how frustrating it is to not really understand why it is happening.
Your comment reminded me that I have been meaning to post an update on EIH so I have written another article. You can read it here: http://zacsky.com/2011/06/exercise-induced-headaches-eih-update/
I hope it helps you. As a note to your comment I do not think it is necessarily the supplements as I wasn’t taking any during my G2F experiment and I still suffered the headaches. But that’s just me. Our bodies could have entirely different responses
If you read the other article and don’t think it helps you then I would try having a long rest (2 weeks) from exercise and then slowly adding things back in (gym, supplements etc) and see if anything in particular aggravates your headaches.
Let me know how you go.
Zac
Cole says:
July 23, 2011 at 7:49 am (UTC 10)
Great article. I recently suffered these exact symptoms a few days ago. Pulsating, intense pain originating from the back of my neck, it was horrible. I tried working out every day after but the second I picked up a dumbell it was back and worse than ever. I then felt it come on suddenly during sex, in the exact same manner, but pushed though it. Not about to let a little headache get in the way.
Luckily, when I do get it, the crippling pain lasts usually no more than a couple minutes. I’m pretty sure mine started from sloppy form in the gym as you also believe. I used my neck to help push my body during bench pres…bad idea.
I’m also taking a nitric oxide workout supplement which increases blood flow. I wonder if this could contribute to it, but seeing as I’ve been taking it for years now I doubt it.
Nik says:
July 23, 2011 at 11:56 am (UTC 10)
Guys, I am currently suffering from this as well! Last sunday was pushing out 10 sets of 10 reps at the gym on the leg press and my mind wasnt focused and i felt a big strain through the next during one of the sets, and a pain shot to my head. Didnt think much of it at the time but next morning, a crippling headache during sex had me worried. Hit the gym the next day and as soon as i lifted, throbbing headache!
Zac your theory about the neck vessels seems to be the answer, as i had a chiropractic alignment 2 days ago, thinking it was my back or a pinched nerve, but the symptoms are still there!
I think rest is the key, its only been a week since i did it and the headaches are still there, so i am going to rest until they are gone.
Nik says:
July 23, 2011 at 12:25 pm (UTC 10)
Just wanted to add that I have been training at the gym for over 5 years now… and have never had this happen… pushing too hard is def a cause….
Lastly have a question Zac, how did you know when you were cured of the headaches, did you ‘test’ yourself after 2 weeks?
in you opinion does performing exercise prolong the strain?
Zac Sky says:
July 25, 2011 at 2:45 pm (UTC 10)
Hey Nik and Cole, thank for your comments about EIH. It was so hard to find any good information on it when I was suffering so its good to hear from others and see the similarities.
Based on both of your comments I am as close to certain as I can be (without actually doing a scientific study) that the initial cause is through bad form and pushing too hard at the gym.
What you’ve both described is exactly how it is for me. A very intense pain that fades after a few minutes, but once I’ve had one occurrence it keeps being re-triggered by any exertion (exercise, sex etc) until I rest fully.
From my experience 2 weeks of rest is enough (and you may even be able to get back into the bedroom stuff earlier
) and then I start off slow when hitting the gym again. The last few times I’ve had EIH I’ve noticed a stiffness or tightness in my neck the rep immediately before I get the headache. So I am always aware of my neck during exercises and if I feel it tense up I stop straight away. Missing out on 1 session is better than 2 weeks of EIH.
Cole on the subject of nitric oxide supplement, I don’t think that would be a cause but I think it would add to the symptoms once you have had EIH as my theory is that it is to do with a “bruised” blood vessel and increased blood flow through that area. So maybe stopping the supplement during a rest would help you recover quicker? I’m not sure but its worth a shot I reckon.
Zac
Dan says:
August 7, 2011 at 3:54 pm (UTC 10)
Hi Zac,
I’m a victim of these sort of exertion headaches myself, and in my case I’ve identified it as improper conditioning to a particular exercise. Having previously been a pretty strong distance runner, and having to retrain after a long period of exams, I’ve noticed that I get these headaches any time I push myself particularly hard. However, this wasn’t the case when I was more adept.
Likewise, there was a period where I could push myself as hard as I wanted in the gym. This was after strength training three times a week for a very boring year and a half, but now that I’ve lost the time to be consistently at the gym, my headache immunity is effectively gone.
My conclusion is that until you’ve acquired a threshold level of fitness at a specific exercise, just doing it at all is pushing yourself, and you probably need to ease into it more slowly before you can expect not to hurt yourself.
This is especially true if you are strength training, where it is well and truly possible to make considerable advances on a novice program for years, and the idea of working out to failure if you haven’t been training for years is entirely unnecessary – just increase the weight, your muscles have plenty of scope at a novice stage to recover from lifting larger loads. Not sure how well the slow and incremental approach will apply to sex, however, but I suspect not all that well.
Dan.
a_fox says:
September 4, 2011 at 7:15 am (UTC 10)
So glad to have found this discussion. Same thing happened to my daughter just last week. She is a dancer, has been forever, but usually takes a month off in the summer and does different cross training stuff. I took her to a spinning class with me (she’s 16) and she sweated like she’s never sweated before. Then we went two days later to do it again and she was doing some core stuff and squat jumps (without warming up) while waiting for the spinning to start. That’s when the headache started.
She’s had neck issues in the past as well – sore, stiff from too much dance and/or stress at competition times. Anyway, the pain is exactly as you all have described and now, anytime she does something (except for the spinning where we warmup properly) she has trouble. She never warms up or stretches properly even though I told her it would help. I think rest would be best to heal and now that school is back, she will be back to her regular routine. I know they ease into the dance so hopefully she’ll be able to recover.
Just good to hear others describe this. It can be scary. And the doctor can tell you one thing, but until you hear other people say they’ve had the same problem, it can be scary.
Thanks for the conversation.
PRANIKA says:
December 3, 2012 at 3:29 pm (UTC 10)
hI…i HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THE SAME PAIN FOR THE PAST 2 WEEKS, EVERYTIME I SWIM. MY GOGGLES AND CAP ARE NOT TOO TIGHT SO I AM RULING OUT THOSE 2 AS A REASON. I PROBABLY STRAIN MY NECK A BIT WEN I CM OUT TO BREATHE. MAYBE THAT HAS CAUSED A TENSION IN MY NECK LEADING TO A THROBBING PAIN AT THE BASE OF THE SKULL. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BEEN SWIMMING FOR THE PAST 3 MONTHS, THE PAINS STARTED JUST IN THE PAST 2 WEEKS. I GOT MY BLOOD TEST DONE AND IT SEEMS MY BLOOD PRESSURE IS HIGH ( 150/100) AND SO IS MY CHOLESTEROL. WHAT DO YOU THINK ??
Ursula says:
January 6, 2013 at 12:46 pm (UTC 10)
I got my first exertion headache during sex (right before orgasm) about 4 weeks ago and have had one each time subsequently (about 7 total). Then I got one during the start of a somewhat high intensity workout that I had done many times before. I went to the doctor and got the CT scan, which came back normal. He put me on a beta blocker (propranolol) and gave me an expensive medicine (sumatriptan) to take BEFORE sex to prevent it. Incidentally, I did take sumatriptan after sex hoping it would help the headache already there, but it did not. I hate the idea of being on a maintenance drug (propranolol); the doctor said to try it for one month and see if it helps. The headaches have ruined my sex life, which makes me sad because it is an enjoyable pasttime for me!
Before headaches, I had started doing hot yoga, which is 90 minutes of yoga in a 110-degree room, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is strenuous but nothing I felt I couldn’t handle. I have been working out seriously for 30 years (I am a 50 yo female). It was after about 3 weeks (8 sessions) of hot yoga that the headaches began, and I can’t help wondering about a causation.
Mary says:
February 23, 2013 at 1:01 pm (UTC 10)
Hi Zac. Glad to find this thread. About 3 months ago, I got a pounding headache about 20 minutes after a workout and it then faded into a low grade headache on and off headache for 1.5 weeks. Then this past Tuesday, after a high intensity lower body workout, about 20 minutes or so later, a pounding headache again, following by low grade headache the next day and then last two days very, very mild achey head and neck. Went to doctor’s today and she said I should a MRI to rule out a brain tumor. She said it is probably not a tumor, but it needs to be ruled out. I feel like that is over kill, not to mention all the radiation of the test. I realize you are not a doctor nor professing medical advice, but am curious what your thoughts are?
Gratefully,
Mary
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March 3, 2011 at 4:10 pm (UTC 10)
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