Italian researchers recently reported that stress, followed by lack of sleep were the top triggers for headache and migraine attacks in children. Speaking at the Meeting of the European Neurological Society in Prague, the researchers found that stress factors triggered headache in two-thirds of the children examined.
“In 72% of the cases we studied, stress could be identified as a major factor behind their headaches. School stress and a burdensome lack of sleep due to night time computer or television activities head the list of frequent stress factors” according to Dr. Dacia Dalla Libera of the San Raffaele Institute in Milan. Stress was identified as academic stress, homework, exams, fear of failure, and bullying in the classroom. Sleep deprivation was mainly due to television, computer games and the use of social networking. Other stress factors included family stress, extracurricular activities, weather changes, and illness or death of a loved one…. Medical News Today June 13, 2012