According to the survey, older people suffer from headaches much less frequently: only about a fifth (21 percent) of those over 60 are affected at least once a month. 53 percent of respondents in this age group even state that they have no headaches.
“Young people not only complain more about headaches, they also suffer more from their symptoms than older people. Many of them feel burdened by the pain in their everyday lives,” said Tim Steimle, head of the drug department at Techniker Krankenkasse (TK). In the survey, every tenth headache sufferer between the ages of 18 and 39 said that the symptoms severely limit their quality of life. People who are 60 years or older, on the other hand, suffer less: Only one percent of those surveyed feel very restricted by the pain that occurs. 34 percent of the elderly suffer little or not at all from their headaches.
Tensions are often the trigger
Headache sufferers often have a good sense of what triggers their pain. Muscle tension in the neck or back is mentioned particularly frequently (70 percent), not drinking enough (66 percent) and too little or poor sleep (57 percent). Respondents between the ages of 18 and 39 more often attribute the complaints to their media use than older age groups: 40 percent believe that working on the computer for a long time triggers their headaches. 16 percent suspect long-term use of smartphones.