You get headaches more than you think you should. You have learned to live with them, reaching for ibuprofen or paracetamol as needed and getting on with your day. This is understandable, but it is also ignoring a signal your body is sending. Frequent headaches — more than once or twice a week — are not normal, and they almost always have a specific cause that is worth identifying rather than simply suppressing.
The Dehydration Connection
Mild dehydration is one of the most common and most underrecognised causes of frequent headaches. The brain is 75 percent water, and even a 1 to 2 percent reduction in hydration produces measurable reductions in cognitive function and increases in headache frequency. Most people are chronically mildly dehydrated without realising it, because thirst is a poor indicator of hydration status — by the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.
The solution is not complicated, but most people do not do it consistently. Aim for 2 to 2.5 litres of water daily, more if you exercise or live in a warm climate. Adding electrolytes — a quarter teaspoon of sea salt per litre of water, or a pinch in each glass — dramatically improves hydration compared to plain water, because the sodium helps your body retain the water rather than excreting it immediately. This is not a fancy supplement. It is the single cheapest and most effective health intervention available.
Magnesium and Tension Headaches
Magnesium deficiency is strongly associated with both tension-type headaches and migraines. Magnesium is required for the proper function of blood vessels in the brain, for neurotransmitter release, and for muscle relaxation — all of which are relevant to headache mechanisms. Studies consistently find that magnesium deficiency is more common in migraine sufferers than in the general population, and magnesium supplementation at 400 to 600mg daily reduces migraine frequency and severity.
The form of magnesium matters for brain absorption. Magnesium glycinate and magnesium threonate cross the blood-brain barrier more efficiently than magnesium oxide, which is poorly absorbed and used mainly as a laxative. If you are supplementing magnesium specifically for headache or migraine prevention, use glycinate or threonate at 400 to 600mg daily. The most common reason magnesium does not work for headaches is that the wrong form was used.
What You Can Do Today
Start tracking when your headaches occur and what you ate and drank in the preceding hours. Patterns that emerge — certain foods, skipped meals, inadequate water, poor sleep — are more informative than any individual test. Ensure you are drinking adequate water with electrolytes. If headaches are frequent, try magnesium glycinate at 400mg daily for 8 weeks and track whether frequency and severity change. If headaches are severe, recurrent, or accompanied by visual disturbance or neurological symptoms, see a doctor first — these require proper assessment before any supplement approach.
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Magnesium and Tension Headaches
Magnesium deficiency is strongly associated with both tension-type headaches and migraines. Magnesium is required for the proper function of blood vessels in the brain, for neurotransmitter release, and for muscle relaxation — all of which are relevant to headache mechanisms. Studies consistently find that magnesium deficiency is more common in migraine sufferers than in the general population, and magnesium supplementation at 400 to 600mg daily reduces migraine frequency and severity.
The form of magnesium matters for brain absorption. Magnesium glycinate and magnesium threonate cross the blood-brain barrier more efficiently than magnesium oxide, which is poorly absorbed and used mainly as a laxative. If you are supplementing magnesium specifically for headache or migraine prevention, use glycinate or threonate at 400 to 600mg daily. The most common reason magnesium does not work for headaches is that the wrong form was used.
What You Can Do Today
Start tracking when your headaches occur and what you ate and drank in the preceding hours. Patterns that emerge — certain foods, skipped meals, inadequate water, poor sleep — are more informative than any individual test. Ensure you are drinking adequate water with electrolytes. If headaches are frequent, try magnesium glycinate at 400mg daily for 8 weeks. If headaches are severe, recurrent, or accompanied by visual disturbance or neurological symptoms, see a doctor first.
Eye strain is an underappreciated contributor to frequent tension-type headaches, particularly in people who work at screens all day. The 20-20-20 rule — every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds — reduces the ciliary muscle spasm that contributes to tension headaches. This is not about blue light filters or expensive glasses (though these can help). It is about the mechanical strain of sustained near-focus, which produces a characteristic headache that starts at the temples or behind the eyes and spreads to the forehead and neck. The solution is break reminders and deliberate focus changes, not more medication.
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