By Deborah Ross

“It’s common for people to attribute headaches to stress, but there’s no official headache classification of ‘stress headaches.’ ”

So says the Cleveland Clinic in its helpful webpage on headaches and headache management. But try convincing yourself of that after confrontations and deadlines at work or a jam-packed day with needy family members. You have a doozy of a headache, and as far as you’re concerned, it’s a stress headache.

As the Cleveland Clinic explains, though, it probably falls under the classification of a tension headache, the most common kind of headache. In stressful situations, the brain releases chemicals to fight that heart-thumping, brain-pounding feeling, and those chemicals often can prompt vascular changes that trigger headaches or make them worse, the experts say.

For myself, I prefer to tackle tension headaches of the stress-induced kind without medications. Sometimes a 30-minute walk works; sometimes a favorite mix of peppermint and chamomile tea, sipped slowly, does the trick.

It’s good to know there are a number of other options, including aromatherapy, breathing exercises, guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation to chase that headache away. But from my perusal of the Cleveland Clinic site, I became intrigued with the idea of acupressure.

Similar to acupuncture but without the needles, acupressure capitalizes on touch points on your skin where mild pressure will send a message to your brain to release pain-relieving chemicals, or endorphins.

While YouTube and other sources on the Web might offer instructions on using acupressure, your best bet might be seeing a holistic healthcare practitioner.

I did come across one site, “Chinese Holistic Health Exercises,” that described how to place your thumbs behind your neck and at the base of your skull to stimulate pain relief. Pressure is applied for just a minute or two. You might also be familiar with the technique of pinching the webbing between your thumb and index finger. You gently squeeze and massage for no more than a couple of minutes.

This site and others warn that acupressure should not be used when you have certain medical conditions, including pregnancy.

One other factoid to keep in mind about tension headaches in which stress is a factor: they can be classified as either episodic or chronic. In the first type, a onetime stressful situation or a build-up of stress is involved, but the headache usually goes away with over-the-counter medication and/or alternative treatments. The chronic type of tension headache can occur when job, family or financial pressures bring about daily anxiety and stress. The situation might call for professionally administered stress management techniques along with prescription medications.

For more discussion of headache management, see http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Headaches/hic_Relaxation_and_Other_Alternative_Approaches_for_Managing_Headaches.aspx