Eye Strain
Tension headaches can be caused by eye strain—but how does that happen? Understanding what’s going on in the body can help you prevent the pain and pressure accompanying a tension headache. For example, vision is a complex process, and good vision requires cooperation between many systems within your body. When things go wrong with any part of this process, it can cause problems for your eyes, muscles, nerves, or brain.
Eye strain occurs when the muscles around the eyes are tired and stressed out due to too much work. This could mean you’ve been staring at a screen too long or haven’t yet adjusted to new glasses—but it also could mean you have a condition like myopia (nearsightedness) or astigmatism causing your eyes to work harder than usual to see clearly.
In either case, excessive work leads to fatigue and stress that travels from the eyes to surrounding muscles in the head and neck. In these instances, eye strain could lead to a tension headache if not properly treated. If you’re worried about an eye strain-related tension headache, schedule an appointment with an optometrist as soon as possible. Your optometrist can diagnose and treat the underlying condition, helping you avoid a headache in the long run.
