Today I Learned: A Collection of Facts We Didn’t Know We Needed to Know

There are a ton of different types of headaches. About 300 different types, in fact. Well, technically, headaches are listed as symptoms of around 300 different conditions. Anyone who gets regular headaches can tell you that there are definitely specific triggers and distinct types of headache pain. The thing is, doctors don’t have headaches all figured out.

Only about 10% of headaches have a known cause. We know that pain-sensitive nerve endings cause headaches, but the specific mechanism is unknown. The brain tissue and skull are never responsible for headaches, making this common pain all the more mysterious. In the same vein, science has yet to figure out what causes migraines and why some people get them.