Some are even plagued with chronic headaches. But one headache isn't quite like another. Scientists have identified 165 different types of headaches, where tension headaches and migraine attacks are responsible for roughly 92 percent of all headaches. On average they cause more than 30 sick days a year.

The people most frequently affected are those of middle age (20 to 40 years of age), who have sedentary occupations. Tension headaches are experienced frequently at the temples, forehead and around the neck region by those affected. Attacks can last for a few minutes upwards to, in the worst case, several days, and are felt as pressuring, pushing, pulling pains. The pains are described as "a weight bearing down on the head", as "a tight, pinching headband" or as "a dull, empty feeling".

Relatively little is known about how headaches occur. Pain is relayed to the blood vessels and fine connective tissue on the brain's surface via free nerve endings. Brain tissue itself is not pain-receptive.

Aspirin as a Headache Treatment

As the active ingredient in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid inhibits several different chemical processes within the body, including the natural physiological processes causing pain and inflammation, making aspirin an effective treatment for headache pain.

By inhibiting production of chemicals called prostaglandins, aspirin diminishes the body's response to a chain of chemical processes that eventually leads to pain.

For headache treatment, even tough headaches, try Bayer Aspirin. Genuine Bayer® Aspirin, or Extra Strength Bayer Aspirin, the original, most trusted name in aspirin, provides fast, safe, effective pain relief. Two Extra-Strength Bayer® Aspirin have been proven to be as effective on tough pain as the most prescribed dosage of Tylenol with Codeine #3 in headache and dental pain models.

In fact, no other over-the-counter pain reliever has been proven stronger than Extra Strength Bayer® Aspirin. Reach for Bayer® Aspirin for headaches, including tension headaches.