What causes Head Rushes?
Head rush is a very common symptom experienced by many people. A person experiencing head rush will experience feelings of euphoria or happiness, usually accompanied with some kind of physical discomfort such as nausea, sweating, dizziness and even vomiting. Some people may feel nothing at all during their head rush moments. It’s not uncommon for someone to have one moment where they’re completely fine and then another moment where they’re having a panic attack.
The reason why people experience these symptoms is because it’s a reaction to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is released into your brain when you’re happy, excited or otherwise emotionally charged. When serotonin levels increase, so does your mood. So if you raise your serotonin level too much, you’ll get a headache.
How do I prevent my Head Rush?
You can’t really avoid getting a head rush, but there are things you can do to reduce the chances of it happening:
1) Don’t sit for long periods of time!
Sitting for prolonged periods of time increases stress hormones which cause adrenaline to flood into your system causing headaches. Instead of sitting, get up and walk around for a bit.
2) Eat foods with tryptophan.
Tryptophan is an amino acid used in the creation of serotonin. Foods rich in tryptophan will cause your body to produce more serotonin as it tries to reach an equilibrium. Foods high in tryptophan include: bananas, avocados, pineapples, milk, peanuts,cottage cheese and sunflower seeds.
Sources & references used in this article:
Medical inquiries and observations, upon the diseases of the mind by B Rush – 1812 – books.google.com
Roentgenography of the brain after the injection of air into the spinal canal by WE Dandy – Annals of surgery, 1919 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Hedonistic homeostatic dysregulation in patients with Parkinson’s disease on dopamine replacement therapies by G Giovannoni, JD O’sullivan, K Turner… – Journal of Neurology …, 2000 – jnnp.bmj.com
The great cholesterol con: the truth about what really causes heart disease and how to avoid it by M Kendrick – 2008 – books.google.com
The causes and prevention of cancer by BN Ames, LS Gold, WC Willett – Proceedings of the …, 1995 – National Acad Sciences
Fragmentation and the other problems CEOs have with their top management teams by DC Hambrick – California Management Review, 1995 – journals.sagepub.com
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for bipolar disorder by MR Basco, AJ Rush – 2005 – books.google.com
