# Sleep and Dreams > Sleep and Health >  >  Blasting headache after extended nap

## Riff

Yah i had a super-great nap with an vivid dream so i guess i naturally refused to wake up. Well upon being "thrown" into reality, my head was pounding with each heartbeat and i was in immense pain. Why do you get headaches after having a long nap/sleeping in?

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## pj

> Yah i had a super-great nap with an vivid dream so i guess i naturally refused to wake up. Well upon being "thrown" into reality, my head was pounding with each heartbeat and i was in immense pain. Why do you get headaches after having a long nap/sleeping in?



I don't know why - hope somebody answers your question.  I get them too though, any time I over-sleep, whether napping or too long a night's sleep.  I can trigger migraines if not careful.

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## Goldney

Were you dehydrated? I often wake up from naps incredibly thirsty and feeling a bit spaced out.

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## Raven12

I had that exact same problem yesterday. When I got out of bed yesterday, I had the worst headache I ever had. No amount of aspirin helped and I've still got a bit of a headache today. I'd like to know why too...yesterday was unbearable.

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## Burns

Yeah I had a headache when I woke up this morning too (after sleeping about 10.5 hrs). And I was really thirsty. I think Goldney may be onto something - it's common knowledge that dehydration causes headaches, so that it a possible explanation.

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## pj

I did some digging around on this on migraine and headache sites, and many of them concur that dehydration is a probably cause or at least a factor.

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## Mes Tarrant

They say the optimum amount of time to nap is 20 minutes. Anything more does more harm than good.

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## G007

I posted this question too on another thread....after sleeping for an extended period of time I wake up with  the worst migranes! I'm not sure if it's dehydration because I have woken up...gotten up had a glass of water or two sometimes and gone back to sleep for another four hours. And still wake up with horrible headaches. 

But you can tell the difference between a headache and the one you get from oversleeping. It boggles me. 

Not even asprin can make it go away.

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## pj

> Not even asprin can make it go away.



Indeed.  They are MIGRAINES.  I know the difference.

I've been told there are meds that will knock them down now, but they all sound pretty heavy duty and as seldom as I get 'em it just doesn't seem worth messing with.

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## G007

lol I have MIGRAINES as well  but still these feel different. It's like your brain is swollen. At least for me. I dunno I guess it feels different for everyone. 

EIther way your right not something to mess with which is why as much as I love LD's I cut my nap time short from now on.

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## Raven12

For me, a nap always helps no matter how long I sleep. Whenever I do wake up with a migrane, it's usually when I get the least amount of sleep. So I usually end up falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the day. When I wake up, it's still there, but not as intense as it was. It makes it impossible to go to bed that night too.

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## kramari

I have those headaches after a long sleep. But it goes away after drinking coffee.

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## wendylove

sertonin build up, you're brain also has to work very hard during REM and NREM, which causes headaches. Like if you lick a Ice cream and it hurts, brain freeze.

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## Burns

> I'm not sure if it's dehydration because I have woken up...gotten up had a glass of water or two sometimes and gone back to sleep for another four hours. And still wake up with horrible headaches.



Usually if you are dehydrated enough to get headaches, one or two glasses of water isn't enough to completely rehydrate you. Most people are chronically dehydrated.

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## Infraredkelp

bummer

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## Riff

> Were you dehydrated? I often wake up from naps incredibly thirsty and feeling a bit spaced out.



  I returned from an extremely hard work out.. so problem solved i guess. =D

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## skysaw

> Usually if you are dehydrated enough to get headaches, one or two glasses of water isn't enough to completely rehydrate you. Most people are chronically dehydrated.



Yes indeed! Take it from someone who fits into that category. I have to constantly remind myself to drink.

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## ~Erin~

oh god,thats me right now.  I had a nap because I was boared and woke up with a bloody headache. And the light of the computer screen isn't helping. 
Don't have a reason for it, though I I believe what wendylove wrote.

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## LucidMike14

I get tons of headaches, it is in my genes, my mom does too. Yet, I have yet to wake up with a terrible headache after an extended nap. I actually nap when I do have a headache, and it goes away. =)

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## KuRoSaKi

I have slept for the longest amount of times and never awoken with a headache.

A few things off the top of my head that could cause you to wake up with a headache are.

1) Dehydration.
2) Hunger (Yeah if you don't eat for a while you get a headache and since you are sleeping a bit longer you may go longer without eating causing a headache).
3) Sleeping on your neck weird (If your neck shifts or something it can cause some neck pain resulting in a headache they somewhat go hand-in-hand).

Those are three I can think of right now.

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## ninja9578

I think why has been hit, here is the solution.  It works one hundred percent of the time for me for everything except for sinus headaches, which are unrelated:

Between your thumb and you index finger on both hand there is a button.  It's just under where the two bones come together, dig for a moment before you find the nerve ending.  It will feel like a sharp pinch, but then quickly fade away.  Rub it for fifteen seconds on one hand, then fifteen on the other.  By then it should be gone, but might come back so repeat each hand one more time.  

Advil: Half an hour, Accupressure: 60 seconds: I love it!



Of course this only treats the symptom, if you don't treat the problem it will come back.  Use the accupressure to get rid of the headache, then get something to eat / drink so that it doesn't come back.

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## EmilySian

I think it's when you have too much sleep. I always get them when I lie in too long in the morning  :smiley:

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## Sierrapoling

> I think why has been hit, here is the solution.  It works one hundred percent of the time for me for everything except for sinus headaches, which are unrelated:
> 
> Between your thumb and you index finger on both hand there is a button.  It's just under where the two bones come together, dig for a moment before you find the nerve ending.  It will feel like a sharp pinch, but then quickly fade away.  Rub it for fifteen seconds on one hand, then fifteen on the other.  By then it should be gone, but might come back so repeat each hand one more time.  
> 
> Advil: Half an hour, Accupressure: 60 seconds: I love it!
> 
> 
> 
> Of course this only treats the symptom, if you don't treat the problem it will come back.  Use the accupressure to get rid of the headache, then get something to eat / drink so that it doesn't come back.



This worked so good!!!! I can't believe it, it felt so good when it relieved it!! The way that it made my headache/migraine go away just made me register for this site , in order to leave this post !! Although now I'm on this site I'm upset that I've lived this long without knowing about it !!! Thank you very much now I'm going back to school for acupuncture.

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