Every second elementary student has a headache

Around 8.4 million school-age children suffer from headaches

08/26/2014

Headaches are usually considered an adult problem, but even children can already experience severe and chronic symptoms. At the same time, the number of young victims seems to be increasing. As the Kiel neurologist and pain therapist Hartmut Göbel currently reports, "now about half of the approximately 8.4 million students in this country have to deal with pain in the head area", so that in Germany almost 4.2 million children are affected.

Tension headaches and migraines are most common
Physicians distinguish about 250 types of headaches. In most cases these are migraines or tension headaches or headaches starting from the neck, but it is also possible, for example, for the so-called „Cluster Headache“, which occurs episodically (for example in spring and autumn) and causes pain in the area of ​​the eye and temples. After back pain, headache is the second most common form of pain that occurs seizure-wise or even chronic in about three quarters of adults. But not only adults are affected, even among children headaches are the Kiel neurologist and pain therapist Hartmut Goebel after an increasingly common problem. According to this, "about 660,000 students would complain about headaches once a week or more often, whereby the problem begins already in elementary school". Therefore, the schools are now planning to use the prevention program "Aktion Mütze - Kindheit ohne Kopfzerbrechen", which teaches the children in age-appropriate language the connection between lifestyle habits and headaches.

Headache susceptibility reduced by program by 70 to 80 percent
The program had been tested in the run up to two years in the seventh grade of a school in Schleswig-Holstein. Apparently with full success, because as the co-initiator and teacher Karin Frisch reports, the headache susceptibility among the students could be reduced by 70 to 80 percent. The students had in three double lessons, among other things, tips on how headaches, for example, by regular meals, a solid daily structure, a moderate media consumption and sufficient peace can be prevented. As an aid, there was also a written „manual“, in which the information was summarized again and which can now be requested by the schools for free.

Help to avoid long-term consequences
A sensible idea because, according to Hartmut Göbel, the program could also prevent long-term consequences of headaches in later life, including depression and, in rare cases, stroke and vascular disease in migraine patients. An important point, because the number of headache patients was due to the „Sensory overload“ Everyday life has increased by 300 percent since 1974, Göbel continues. It is therefore not surprising that of the 20 best-selling drugs in Germany, according to the neurologist alone twelve headache medication can be found.

Main causes: pressure to perform, leisure stress and overstimulation
If the symptoms already appear at school age, the causes are according to the experts in many cases due to the demands of daily life: „Achievement pressure in school, leisure stress in the afternoon, but also overstimulation or irregular eating increasingly lead to tension headaches in children and adolescents or even trigger migraine attacks.“ This is by no means a rare phenomenon, as even in elementary school every second child would have to deal with a headache, and every seventh child is already dependent on medication. A frightening and above all serious development, because „Headaches in children can lead to mental health problems or become lifelong headaches. "The physician and psychologist continue to hope that the initiators now hope for a success of the program, because „With the campaign carried out by politicians, health insurances and companies we address teachers, students and parents together“, Karin Frisch continues. (No)