Every second school child suffers from a headache

According to some studies, more and more students in Germany complain about headaches. According to the Kiel neurologist and pain therapist dr. Hartmut Göbel, about 50 percent of the 8.4 million students in Germany in their spare time or school would suffer from headaches. The causes include daily overstimulation and increasing pressure to perform.

Headache is the second most common form of pain that occurs seizure-wise or even chronically 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. (Sb)