Why your caffeine consumption may trigger headaches — and how it can also help relieve them

Moderate amounts of caffeine may ease headaches. However, if you have multiple cups of coffee daily, cutting back could cause migraines.

Drinking coffee not only may make you feel energized, but could relieve migraines. Polina Lebed/Getty Images

By Hannah Roberts

Caffeine and headaches have a complicated relationship. In fact, caffeine can either relieve or trigger headaches, depending on how much of it you consume, and how frequently.

Caffeine — which is a central nervous system stimulant — turns up in soft drinks, sports drinks, coffee, tea, chocolate, and more, so it’s easy to see why 80% to 90% of all adults in North America consume it regularly.

Here’s everything you need to know about how caffeine can impact headaches and how much of it you should consume for positive effects.

Caffeine may help relieve headaches

The pain you experience with headaches — specifically migraines — is typically caused by the enlargement of blood vessels around your brain, which increases the amount of blood flow to your brain. This change in blood flow triggers a number of complicated mechanisms in the brain that can lead to headaches.

Caffeine narrows these blood vessels and is known to have “vasoconstrictive” properties. This means that…