Medical Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you are experiencing mental health issues, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
You've just had a proper cry. Maybe it built up all day and finally spilled over in the shower, or it hit you halfway through a hard conversation. The tears stop, and you expect to feel lighter. Instead, a tight, pounding ache settles behind your eyes and across your forehead. Your nose is blocked, your face feels swollen, and your head throbs. Why does letting it out leave you in pain?
If you're wondering why do I get a headache after crying, the short answer is that hard crying puts strain on your head in several ways at once. The muscles in your face, jaw and neck clench, tears drain into your nose and leave it congested, and your stress chemistry surges and then drops. Low fluids, skipped meals and tiredness make it worse, and in people prone to migraine, a big cry can set off an attack.
Below, we'll go through each cause in plain language, help you work out which type of headache you're getting, and share what helps it ease, how to prevent it, and when to see a doctor.
Not every crying headache feels the same. The type of pain often gives a clue about what's behind it. You might notice:
A headache from crying can start while you're still in tears or creep in afterwards. For most people it's a nuisance rather than a danger, and it fades within a few hours.
When you cry hard, your whole upper body tightens. You scrunch your face, clench your jaw, hunch your shoulders and hold your neck stiff, often without noticing. Hold that position for ten or twenty minutes and your muscles start to complain.
This is one of the most common reasons your head hurts after crying, and it usually shows up as a tension-type headache. The NHS describes tension headaches as pain on both sides of the head, face or neck, with a feeling that something is pressing on your head or tightening around it. Stress is one of the main triggers.
If you also tend to clench or grind your teeth when you're anxious, your jaw muscles may already be tired before the tears even start. Our guide to jaw pain from anxiety explains how that tension spreads into the temples and head.
Your tears don't just roll down your cheeks. Most of them drain away through tiny openings in the inner corners of your eyes and into the back of your nose. Cleveland Clinic explains that when you cry, extra tears flow into the back of your nose faster than usual, which is why you can feel stuffy afterwards.
That congestion can leave you with a full, heavy feeling in your forehead, cheeks and around your eyes. This kind of headache after crying often feels like a sinus headache. To be clear, crying doesn't give you a sinus infection. It's more like the pressure you feel during a bad cold, and it usually eases once your nose clears.
A blocked nose also pushes you into mouth breathing, which dries your throat and can make you feel even more uncomfortable and run down.
Strong emotions such as grief, fear, anger or hurt switch on your stress response. Your heart beats faster, your muscles tense and your body releases stress hormones. Crying usually happens at the peak of that, and the calm afterwards brings a sharp drop.
Surprisingly, that drop can be a trigger too. The NHS lists "relaxing after stress" as a headache trigger, explaining that as tension eases, stress hormone levels fall and brain chemical messengers are released that can bring on a headache. The same page notes that pent-up anger tightens the muscles at the back of your neck and scalp. A big cry often packs both into one short window, which helps explain why your head hurts after crying even once you feel calmer.
This "let-down" effect isn't unique to crying. It's also part of why some people get a sore head after a busy day out, which we explore in our guide to why you can get a headache after socializing.
If you live with migraine, you may have noticed that emotional crying is one of your triggers. There isn't much research on this, but one small study backs up what many people report. In a 2003 survey of 163 people with migraine or tension-type headache, just over half said crying could bring on an attack. It was especially common in the people with migraine. The study had no comparison group, so it can't prove cause, but the authors concluded that crying seems to be a real trigger that deserves more research.
A migraine after crying tends to feel different from a tension headache. It's more often a throbbing pain on one side, sometimes with nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, or visual changes. If that's your pattern, it's worth treating early and talking to your doctor about a plan.
Tears themselves don't contain much water, so crying on its own is unlikely to dehydrate you. The problem is what usually comes with it. When you're upset, you tend to skip meals, forget to drink, have extra coffee, or stay up late going over what happened.
Not drinking enough, not eating regular meals and stress are all well-known headache causes. Each one alone might only give you a mild ache. Together, they can turn a mild headache after a cry into a real pounding head.
Sleep matters here too. Many big cries happen late at night, when you're already exhausted. A short night on top of an emotional evening is a common recipe for a headache the next morning.
After a long cry, your eyes are often red, puffy and sore, especially if you've been rubbing them. You might then stare at your phone to distract yourself or reply to messages, which strains tired eyes even more.
Your breathing changes as well. Sobbing tends to involve gasping, holding your breath and shaky, uneven breaths. That can leave you lightheaded and add to the tension in your chest, shoulders and neck. None of this is harmful in itself, but it's one more strain on an already sore head.
If you keep asking yourself why do I get a headache after crying, working out which kind of pain you have can help you pick the right relief. Many crying headaches are a mix, so you may recognise more than one row.
| Type | How it often feels | Main crying link | What tends to help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tension-type | Tight band or pressure on both sides, sore neck and shoulders | Clenched face, jaw and neck muscles; stress | Warmth on the neck, gentle stretching, relaxing your jaw, over-the-counter painkillers |
| Congestion (sinus-type) | Fullness in forehead and cheeks, blocked nose | Tears draining into the nose | Blowing your nose, steam, a saline nasal spray, cool cloth over the face |
| Migraine | Throbbing, often one side, nausea, light or noise sensitivity | Strong emotion and stress as a trigger, in people prone to migraine | Your usual migraine treatment taken early, a dark quiet room, rest |
| Low fuel or fluids | Dull, general ache, lightheaded, tired | Skipped meals, too little water, poor sleep | Water, a snack or meal, an early night |
Most crying headaches ease on their own within a few hours. These steps can help them fade faster.
If you know you get migraines, use your usual treatment as early as you can, ideally as soon as a migraine after crying starts to build. Move to a dark, quiet room, keep water nearby and rest. Keeping a simple diary of when your migraines happen can help you and your doctor see whether emotional crying is a regular trigger.
The goal isn't to stop yourself crying. Tears are a healthy way to release emotion, and holding them back often makes you feel worse. Instead, you can make crying a little easier on your body.
If you get a crying headache often, it's worth looking at how often you're crying and what's driving it. Ongoing stress, poor sleep and holding feelings in until they burst all make big, exhausting cries more likely. Small, regular outlets such as talking to someone you trust, journaling or moving your body can mean fewer intense cries that leave your head pounding.
If tears tend to come when you're angry or frustrated rather than sad, our guide on why you cry when you get angry or frustrated offers ways to manage that. And if the head pain is part of a wider set of stress symptoms, like a racing heart, tight chest or tingling, you might find our list of weird physical symptoms of anxiety reassuring.
Some people also wake up the next day with a post-cry headache and a heavy, drained feeling after a night of tears. That combination is sometimes called an emotional hangover, and a slower, gentler morning usually helps.
This article offers general information and is not a substitute for personal medical or mental health advice. Most headaches after crying are harmless, but some signs need a doctor's attention. The NHS advises getting emergency help if you have a headache and:
Ask for an urgent GP or doctor's appointment (in the UK, you can also call NHS 111) if:
Book a routine appointment with a GP, doctor or therapist if:
If you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please reach out now. In the US, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123. In Canada, call or text 988. In Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. If you're in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.
Yes, it's very common, especially after long or intense crying. Tense muscles in your face and neck, a blocked nose and the rise and fall of stress hormones can all cause head pain. Low fluids, skipped meals and poor sleep often add to it. For most people a crying headache is mild and passes within a few hours.
Most crying headaches ease within a few hours, especially once you've had water, cleared your nose and rested. A tension-type headache can sometimes linger longer, and a migraine may last much of the day. If a headache lasts more than a day or two, keeps coming back or is getting worse, see a GP or doctor.
Start with a glass of water, then blow your nose and put a cool, damp cloth over your eyes. A warm pack on the back of your neck can help if the pain feels tight and band-like. Relax your jaw and shoulders and breathe out slowly. If you need it, an over-the-counter painkiller taken as directed can help too.
For some people, yes. In one small survey of people with migraine or tension-type headache, more than half said crying could set off an attack, and it was particularly common among those with migraine. Stress and strong emotions are known migraine triggers. If this happens to you often, a doctor can help you plan how to treat attacks early.
A next-day headache is usually a mix of things. You may have gone to bed late, slept badly, skipped a meal or not drunk much water while you were upset. Your neck and jaw may have stayed tense overnight, and congestion can linger. Drinking water, eating breakfast and taking a slower morning often helps it lift.
Usually not. Most are tension-type or congestion headaches that ease on their own. But get urgent medical help if a headache comes on suddenly and is extremely painful, or comes with weakness, numbness, confusion, vision loss, a stiff neck, a high temperature or difficulty speaking. Those signs need checking straight away, whatever the cause.
So, why do I get a headache after crying? Because a big cry asks a lot of your body. Your muscles clench, your nose fills up, your stress hormones rise and fall, and you're often running low on water, food and sleep. The ache is a sign of effort, not a sign that crying is bad for you.
Next time the tears come, keep a glass of water and some tissues close, and when they stop, give yourself ten minutes lying down with a cool cloth over your eyes.
MSc Psychology
Amarha Fatimah holds an MSc in Psychology and has three years of experience in the field. At RegulatedSelf, Amarha writes about anxiety, stress and emotional regulation, turning psychological research into clear, practical guidance readers can use in everyday life.
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