Several of his colleagues suffer from the same symptoms due to their hard mental labour and meagre oxygen in the badly designed office building.

Headaches may be the most common medical problem, but usually they are neglected because they rarely indicate a serious medical condition.

Quite a lot of factors can lead to a headache, including brain tumours, muscle tension, moods, diseases of the neck, blood vessel disorders in the head or pain from nearby organs (eyes, ear, nose or teeth).

Except in the case of very serious diseases, unfortunately, even doctors specially trained in the field have difficulty working out which specific type of headache the patient has - there is no way of systematically checking.

Most probably, the cause of a headache can be traced to your lifestyle, including habits such as drinking and smoking.

Drinking

The headache usually begins half an hour after drinking, and drunks can have very serious headaches. Alcohol reduces the blood flow and thus the brain becomes short of blood and oxygen. Alcohol also inhibits the renewal of important chemicals in the brain and stimulates the reaction of blood platelets, which all expand the blood vessels in the head and cause headaches.

Some drinks such as beer, fruit wine and rice wine contain an additional headache inducer, tyramine. Tyramine stimulates the nerve endings to release a hormone, which can shrink the blood vessels and raise the blood pressure, thus causing headaches.

Smoking

Smoking may be the leading cause of headaches for smokers because NO (nitric Oxide) in the smoke is absorbed into the blood. Heightened levels of NO in the blood can also lead to sickness, vomiting and fatigue.

A survey shows that the density of carbonyl hemoglobin in blood is between 0.5 to 5 per cent for non-smokers in heavily-industrialized areas with serious pollution, but the figure may be as high as 10 per cent for smokers who have over 20 cigarettes a day.

Moods

The fluctuation of emotional state, anger, indignation, excitement, anxiety or even women's periods has some relation to headaches. Scientists have discovered a region in the brain which receives stimulation from the body.

During such moods, this region makes the body release chemicals to lower the density of pain-inducing substances in the blood, increasing blood flow and expanding blood vessels, which can produce headaches as medical symptoms.

Chemical fumes

Many people moving into their newly decorated homes suffer from headaches, because chemical in the paint or other materials stimulate the brain. In addition, poisonous gases like sulfur dioxide damage the nerves and blood cells, causing severe headaches.

Epidemiology surveys show that headaches are also connected with one's characteristics: quite a few splitting headache sufferers are stubborn, suspicious or aggressive. And people with optimistic characters have fewer risks in this respect.

Try the following simple ways to ease headaches.

Put cold or warm towels on the forehead or neck.

Take a warm bath to release muscle tension.

Exercise can be helpful for killing pain in the head if the headache is not very serious.

Many people might take a nap to ease a headache, but over-sleep could worsen it.

Press the acupuncture point between the thumb and index finger.

Put a pencil between the teeth to release tension.

Tuina (a Chinese traditional massage) therapy and Chinese acupuncture by professionals are also methods worth trying.

(Shanghai Star December 5, 2002)