A heavy feeling in the head after a tiring day is pretty normal. However, starting your day with a headache can break it before starting. If your head feels heavy and it seems like you can’t keep it together or hold it upright, it may be because of the following troubles:
- Brain fog
- Tiredness
- Headache
- Neck pain
- Dizziness
- Pressure in the face or head
When your head feels heavy and dizzy, it may indicate quite a few conditions. Precisely pinpointing the reason is difficult; however, if you assess other symptoms along with it, your search can come down to a few. Let’s figure out what it means when your head feels heavy and the root causes in depth.
Your Head Feels Heavy – Here Are the Reasons
The conditions range from mild ones such as headaches and sinus infections or severe ones like brain tumors. Usually, the reason for a heavy head is not serious, and here are some potential causes.
Balance Disorder
A person with balance issues has a dizzy head that feels heavy most of the time. There are multiple kinds of disorders, including:
- Positional vertigo
- Vestibular neuronitis
- Meniere’s disease
Myasthenia Gravis
In this condition, the muscles grow weaker than usual with each passing day. The symptoms initially seen are weakness and fatigue in the neck muscles. Myasthenia gravis makes mundane tasks such as eating or chewing along with keeping the head upright quite tricky.
Posture Issues
According to a study structured by Surgical Technology International, if the head tilts in the front approximately 15 degrees, the head feels as heavy as holding a 27-pound item. Moreover, if the head shifts to 60 degrees angle, the head may weigh as if it is 60 pounds heavy.
If someone has issues with their head feeling heavy, they should re-evaluate their posture and hold it upright.
Sinus Headache
A sinus headache causes pressure buildup and consequent pain making the head feel heavy. Bacteria or viruses get trapped in the sinus canals, causing swelling, stuffy nose, and yellow discharge.
Tension headaches
This type of pain is widespread amongst people; it feels like a squeeze, pinch, or dull ache in the head. Other than that, it also increases tension in the shoulder and neck muscles, making your skull heavy.
Muscle Strain
Any unfortunate incident can lead to muscle strain and injury, resulting in pain and heaviness, making it difficult for the head to hold its upright position. Usually, people involved in sports or heavy exercise suffer from this.
Whiplash
Whiplash is when the ligaments and neck muscles go beyond their normal motion range. The head moves backward and forwards with sudden force. It is mostly seen when a car suffers from rear-end accidents, abuse, and falls.
Head Injury / Concussion
Direct injury to the head and scalp, or if the brain bounces against the inner wall of the skull, is a concussion and results in a heavy head. Some other symptoms include confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, memory issues, etc.
Fatigue
Fatigue is basically excessive tiredness which may be because of lack of sleep, hangover, or other medical conditions such as:
- Anemia
- Sleep apnea
- Heart disorders
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- PCOS
- Lupus
When you are tired all the time, keeping your head high is not an easy task making it feel cumbersome.
Migraines
Migraines are not like typical headaches. They have much more intensity, are debilitating, and appear with symptoms such as one-sided headache, fatigue, stiff neck, throbbing head pain, etc.
Final Take Out
The treatment varies according to the reason; if your head feels heavy, it is most likely because of a non-serious issue. However, if the problem is still there, reach out to our expert physician at San Ramon Urgent Care. Our doctors are trained in treating headaches and related issues with due diligence. Call now at San Ramon 925 361 5959, Manteca 209 825 5155, or Lathrop 209 983 9000.