Often we listen to complaints that people tend to get a fasting headache during their fasting days. The question is Why Does Fasting Cause Headaches?

We know that not all people get a headache during their fasting days. It solely depends on person to person and their physical condition. In this article, we will try to find an answer to this very pertinent question of getting Fasting Headache.

In strict medical terminology and analysis, Fasting Headache may be caused due to hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is a medical condition in which the blood glucose level in our body drops below normal. In other words, we can safely say that low blood sugar which may be the result of fasting may cause headaches sometimes. We must remember that headaches during fasting may not be necessarily caused due to hypoglycemia alone.

Why Does one get a Fasting Headache?

There are many other factors which may cause a fasting headache. In the following paras, we are going to enumerate most of them one by one.

Hypoglycaemia

As discussed above, while dealing with the question of Why Does Fasting Cause Headaches, We come across the term Hypoglycaemia.

Hypoglycaemia is a clinical syndrome of the body in which glucose level drops below the normal level. There are many causes of such drops and fasting is one such cause. One may remember that fasting for short duration does not cause hypoglycaemia. Often Hypoglycaemia is caused due to prolonged fasting.

Stress Hormones

During fasting, our body releases stress hormones. It triggers anxiety and lack of sleep. Ultimately it leads to headaches which may be light headed or moderate to severe headaches.

Dehydration

Why Does one get a fasting headache? Fasting leads to Dehydration in our body and which in turn causes headaches.

Dr. Ebrahim Elimam, a known consultant for diabetes, endocrinology and internal medicine at Health Plus Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, Riyadh explain the phenomenon as follows:-

When the brain detects too low water supply to our body, it produces histamines (compounds released by cells that cause contraction of smooth muscle and dilation of capillaries). It rations and conserves water in case the water shortage continues for a long time. These histamines directly cause pain and fatigue, which is experienced as a headache and lowered levels of energy.

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Depletion of Electrolytes

For the efficient performance of our brain and the nervous system, sodium and potassium level in our bloodstream should be adequate. It should be always maintained at the normal levels. Lowering of sodium or potassium in the body may cause low blood pressure. Sometimes it causes discomforts at the hemisphere of the brain due to lessened potassium levels. These symptomatic conditions are often caused due to prolonged fasting hours which results into headaches. Hope you found an answer to the pertinent question Why Does one get a fasting headache?

Withdrawal Syndrome

Often we drink a lot of tea or coffee during the day hours. During fasting times we have to forsake these habits. Withdrawal syndrome caused due to non-drinking of tea or coffee or in other words absence of caffeine which our body has become accustomed to may lead to headaches

It must be remembered that often headaches as a syndrome during fasting days occur at the initial few days only and later on when the body is more accustomed to it and it learns to stay put by burning the body fat than headaches often does not occur.

To cope up with Fasting Headache, one may consume enough fluids, green vegetables, fruits and fruit juices which helps to reduce the effect of many of the above-discussed factors and thus may help to avoid headaches during the fasting days.

Hope this article has helped you to find and understand different causes of Fasting Headache. Please let me know if the topic has helped you in understanding it through your comments.

All the Best 🙂