Image used for representation only.
Riyadh: The Gulf Health Council launched an awareness campaign on headches aimed at educating the public on common types of headaches, their causes, and methods of prevention, while emphasizing the importance of following a healthy lifestyle and the safe use of painkillers, as well as informing 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 migraine, tension headache, and headache resulting from the excessive use of painkillers, in a way that helps them choose the optimal healthy behavior to deal with pain and avoid its triggers.
The campaign includes a series of awareness products and interactive media materials through the council's digital platforms, including an interactive quiz to measure individuals' knowledge and health behaviors, through which participants are provided with personalized tips based on their answers to support their ability to control headaches and improve their quality of life.
The campaign also includes an awareness guide, brochures, and multimedia educational content that highlights the most common headache triggers, such as stress, lack of sleep, excessive caffeine, dehydration, prolonged screen use, and hormonal disorders.
The campaign focuses on two main groups: people with migraine and those prone to tension headaches, such as students and employees in office-based professions, doctors, teachers, workers in high-stress environments, members of the Gulf community aged 18 and above, and all entities from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
The campaign also focuses on a set of core awareness messages, most notably raising health awareness about the differences between common types of headaches and their causes in order to identify the optimal treatment option; enabling individuals with knowledge about prevention methods and reducing headache-triggering factors; correcting misconceptions related to headaches and promoting a culture of consulting a doctor when needed; educating the community about healthy lifestyle habits (adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, stress management, physical activity); and raising awareness about the importance of the safe use of painkillers to avoid headaches resulting from their overuse.
Studies indicate that headache is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide, with its disorders affecting about 40 percent of the population (equivalent to 3.1 billion people globally), and it is often underestimated or self-managed without medical consultation, despite the availability of effective treatments.
The council explained that headache is not merely a passing pain, but may hinder daily life, as its recurring attacks affect the professional and social performance of those affected, noting that migraine is among the most impactful diseases on quality of life globally for the age group 15-49 years.
Studies have also shown that increasing caffeine consumption by 100 mg per day may raise the likelihood of developing migraine by 5 percent, while drinking water regularly and exercising contribute to reducing the frequency of attacks and improving quality of life by up to 40 percent.
