Headaches and exercise can go hand-in-hand or fist-in-fist to be more precise. Although doctors often recommend regular exercise as headache therapy, intense exercise can actually cause headaches instead of helping relieve them. Exercising too much releases an excess of nitric oxide, a chemical that dilates blood vessels. The swollen blood vessels put pressure on nerve endings, resulting in a headache that you weren't expecting. The work around for this is simply to add a slow warm-up to your workout.

Unfortunately, people who get frequent headaches are often afraid to exercise - in case the exercise causes one. Still, most experts believe that twenty to thirty minutes of exercise three times a week eliminates some headaches and decreases the severity of many others, including migraines. Even if you don't finish a whole session, completing a well-planned warm-up may produce the same results as a decent exercise routine.

Most people don't drink nearly enough water when they're exercising. Did you know that by the time you feel thirsty you're already dehydrated? Drink room temperature water before, during and after exercise. How much depends on how hard you've worked out but definitely try to slowly drink at least 1 liter of water when you're done.

Exercise should combat headaches, but when headache and exercise are a team, these red flags are signals of serious problems that your doctor should check as soon as possible.

* Your headache is sudden.

* Each new headache is worse than the last one.

* New headaches differ in either intensity or symptoms from previous ones.

* A unilateral (one side of your head) headache is persistent.

* You wake up with a headache or headache wakes you up!

* Neck pain or stiffness accompanies headache.

* You experience nerve problems like paralysis or tingling.

If you haven't been exercising because you're afraid of headaches and exercise, here are some tips for a low-impact start:

1. Stretching reduces muscle soreness that can result in a headache starting. Start your exercise program with a few good stretches. Keep them in your warm-up when you move on to exercise that is more strenuous and use them at the end of each session to "cool-down" slowly.

2. Walking is an excellent form of exercise. Walk for ten or fifteen minutes one way, then turn around and walk home. Increase the "briskness" of your step slowly. In fact, you'll find that your speed increases on its own if you make walking a regular form of exercise.

3. Keep a water bottle nearby. When your throat is dry, so are your muscles!

So there's no real need to worry about getting a headache from exercise. Make sure you drink plenty of water and warm up properly. Warming down properly is just as important. Last but not least build your exercise routine slowly - one step at a time. Otherwise this is where the problems start.