The Gulf Health Council launched an awareness campaign entitled “Stop Headaches.” With the aim of raising the level of health awareness about common types of headaches, their causes, and ways to prevent them, while emphasizing the importance of following a healthy lifestyle and the safe use of painkillers, and educating the community about the indicators that require consulting a doctor.
The campaign seeks to enable individuals to distinguish between the most common types of headaches, such as migraines, tension headaches, and headaches resulting from excessive use of painkillers, which contributes to choosing the optimal healthy behavior to deal with pain and avoid its causes.
The campaign includes a series of awareness products and interactive media materials across the Council’s digital platforms, including an interactive test to measure individuals’ knowledge and health behaviors, through which participants are provided with personalized advice based on their answers to support their ability to control headaches and improve their quality of life.
The campaign also includes an awareness guide, publications and multimedia educational content, highlighting the most common causes of headaches, such as stress, lack of sleep, excessive caffeine, dehydration, using screens for long periods, and hormonal disorders.
The campaign focuses on two main segments: those suffering from migraines and those exposed to tension headaches, such as students, employees in office professions, doctors, teachers, workers in high-stress environments, the Gulf community aged 18 years and above, and all parties from the public, private and non-profit sectors.
The campaign also focuses on a set of basic awareness messages, most notably raising health awareness of the difference between common types of headaches and their causes to determine the optimal treatment option, empowering individuals with knowledge about methods of prevention and reducing triggers that cause headaches, correcting misconceptions associated with headaches, promoting a culture of consulting a doctor when needed, educating the community about healthy lifestyle patterns (adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, stress management, and physical activity), and raising awareness of the importance of safe use of analgesics to avoid headaches resulting from their overuse.
Studies indicate that headaches are considered one of the most common nervous system disorders around the world, as their disorders affect about 40% of the population (equivalent to 3.1 billion people globally), and they are often underestimated or dealt with on their own without medical advice, despite the availability of effective treatments for them.
The Council explained that headaches are not just a passing pain, but may be an obstacle to daily life, as their recurring attacks affect the professional and social performance of those affected, noting that migraines are one of the diseases that most affect the quality of life globally for the age group 15-49 years.
Studies have also shown that increasing caffeine consumption by 100 milligrams per day may increase the likelihood of migraine headaches by 5%, while drinking water regularly and exercising contribute to reducing the frequency of attacks and improving quality of life by up to 40%.