Exam stress giving your child headaches? Help is here

HYDERABAD : With the board exams drawing closer for the 10th and 12th standard students, the pressure of exams is so overwhelming that it’s affecting their health. The fear that they will disappoint their parents and teachers is creating unnecessary pressure on them. Worried parents are visiting doctors in the city and the doctors have confirmed that there has been increase in the number of children visiting them with complaints of headache and back pain.

According to Dr Rajasekhar Reddy K, senior consultant neuro and spine surgeon, Continental Hospitals, most children are suffering from tension headaches and mentioned that the number of children suffering from this headache have increased threefold over the last few days.

“Tension type headache is most commonly seen among children and is caused due to the straining of the muscles in the scalp neck and shoulder area. Most of the parents come rushing to us, asking for some investigations to be done. But, there is no need for any investigations immediately,” he said. If your child’s headache persists even after their exams, it is imperative that they undergo investigations to diagnose the reason behind the recurring headache, he added.

Doctors have informed that parents should understand and identify if their child is suffering from a migraine headache, which is the second most common headache seen among children. Migraines affect nearly 30% of the adults globally and almost 5% of them experience a headache every 15 days in a month.

“Migraine headaches are severe and release throbbing pain only on one side of the head. Children may experience migraines and parents should watch out if their child vomits or has nausea. They may even shy away from light and noise,” Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said.

Checking your child’s posture will be highly helpful in avoiding back pain. Sitting at the computer or using a mobile phone with jutting head forward to look more closely at the screen compresses the neck and can cause fatigue, headaches, poor concentration, increased muscle tension and can even lead to injury to the vertebrae over time, informed the doctors.

“Checking the posture and ensuring the head is aligned on top of the neck is important and parents should observe the postures time to time. Use a good ergonomic chair that supports the back and gives ideal posture, increasing the font size and placing your computer on a stand at eye level and not on the laps will be ideal,” said Dr Reddy.

Dos and Don’ts
As responsible parents and as a responsible doctor and citizens, we all should come together and do our part to help children deal with exams easily. Let’s pledge to boost our kids’ confidence and help them perform well. Here are few ways to help them:
n    Recognize the signs of stress and understand your child’s capacity
n    Identify your child’s best way to learn, make a study schedule
n    Support them rather them comparing them to others
n    Check diet and sleep pattern. Avoid unhealthy and junk foods
n    Maintain headache journals to understand the cause of migraines
n    Parents should monitor the frequency, severity , duration of headaches
n    Identify the trigger factors of the headache – like lack of sleep, stress, sensitivity to food, smell and light
n    Take them out for small walks and make them do small exercises along with you