For someone coffee is a panacea against headaches, for someone else a “stimulus” that activates it.
The relationship between coffee and headaches is very complex: too many cups can facilitate attacks, but abstinence in the so-called “weekend headache” can also do it, of which the reduction of the drink (drunk more frequently during working days to take a break or overcome drowsiness) is a contributing cause, added perhaps to a few hours of sleep and a few too many drinks.
The caffeine withdrawal headache has also been proven by a research by the College of Medicine at the University of Vermont in Burlington (USA), with the paradoxical consequence that those who suffer from it try to cure it by drinking coffee, thus increasing addiction and the “rebound” effect when not drinking it: the risk is chronic headache and the most subject, According to research, it is young women, especially if genetically predisposed.
An ambivalent relationship, in short, which is also explained by the fact that there is not only one headache, but many types of pain (tension headache, cluster, migraine, pulsating or not, with aura or not, with other symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, glare and so on) on which coffee can have different effects.
Coffee: friend or enemy of headaches?
In fact, many people not suffering from severe headaches, but only occasional, use a cup of strong unsweetened coffee to relieve it, without needing anything else: to determine the beneficial effect is the mild vasoconstrictor action on blood circulation, which narrows the arteries of the skull that in some types of headaches, such as migraine, they dilate excessively.
To increase its effectiveness, it may be useful to lie for at least half an hour in a dim and quiet room, so as to relax completely.
On other subjects, however, caffeine could also trigger an opposite effect, as it seems to have the ability to increase the concentration of free fatty acids in plasma; Their conversion to other substances, such as prostaglandins, could trigger vasodilation that preludes the migraine crisis.
Those who suffer from headaches, in short, should first take into account their personal response to coffee and decide whether to use it as a non-pharmacological support or avoid it in a preventive manner, perhaps trying to replace it with decaffeinated.
The pain-relieving effect of caffeine
How do we deal then with the fact that pharmacology, for some time, exploits the adjuvant effect of caffeine as a painkiller?
Gioacchino Tedeschi, director of the Department of Neurological Sciences of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” explains: “While there are no experimental studies that support the stories of patients who wake up with a headache and claim that the only thing that makes them pass it is a cup of espresso just got out of bed, there is instead evidence that caffeine works in the acute attack of migraine, characterized by an intense, unilateral and pulsating painful symptomatology, more than in headaches tout court. Migraine is due to vasodilation of extracerebral intracranial vessels; The vasoconstrictor effect of caffeine can therefore have a positive value. Many medicines combine the power of a synthetic analgesic and anti-inflammatory molecule with that of caffeine, in different proportions. The help also comes from the fact that caffeine facilitates the absorption of drugs, because it passes into the blood quickly, between 40 and 90 minutes.
And this explains why many people like “the tazzullela” not only for the satisfaction of the palate, but for the effects on attention and concentration and, therefore, also on pain.
But watch out for chronic and excessive consumption: “Caffeine is found in many drinks, from tea to energy drinks, up to cola drinks – warns Gioacchino Tedeschi – and the excessive consumption of this substance with a stimulating effect on the central nervous system can trigger migraine attacks or transform episodic attacks into chronic ones. Add to that the fact that coffee can disrupt sleep, and this obviously makes migraines worse.”
In general, 300-400 mg of caffeine daily is a reasonable amount for everyone, considering that the average content of a cup is for espresso and mocha of 60-120 mg (35-50 ml) and for American coffee (100 ml) of 95-125 mg.
What the studies say
Research on the relationship between coffee and health, however, is plentiful. For example, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, have shown that if patients are given coffee before surgery, there is a significant reduction in post-operative headaches.
Coffee also seems effective on nocturnal hypnic headache, which occurs suddenly especially in older people: a cup of coffee before going to bed can improve the effect of medications and reduce attacks, as long as it does not interfere with night rest.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
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