"It feels like a tight band is squeezing my head" | Chronic stress-induced headache in a 30s office worker

"It feels heavy like a tight-fitting hat pressing on my head, and every morning it squeezes like a band wrapped around it — I just can't focus on work at all."

"Even if I take pain medication, it only works for a moment and my stomach just hurts afterward."

These were the words of Ji-hun (pseudonym), a man in his late 30s exhausted from frequent overtime and work pressure, when he first came to see me.

Ji-hun spent every day wrestling with his monitor under constant tension, and one day began experiencing severe pain starting from a stiff neck that pulled all the way up to the top of his head.

At first he went to internal medicine and neurology and even received a brain MRI, but was told there was nothing wrong with his brain.

As the pain continued, work stress increased further, and as stress worsened, the headache deteriorated again — he was caught in a deep vicious cycle.

I felt deep sorrow when Ji-hun mentioned that he had started watching himself, worried his family might think he was faking illness.

Honestly speaking, being told "tests are normal" is a relief in one sense, but from the patient's perspective it is also the most bewildering verdict.

The tests say everything is perfectly normal, yet the daily pain is vivid — the helplessness and frustration Ji-hun must have felt was beyond words.

I did not view Ji-hun's symptoms as merely a structural problem inside the head or temporary fatigue.

Every time I hear such stories, I deeply empathize with how heavily the weight of invisible stress presses down on one's life.

So why, when there is nothing wrong with the brain, is the head so heavy and painful?

A Boiling Pressure Cooker: Heat Rising Upward

In traditional Korean medicine, this type of chronic stress headache is interpreted as a process of Liver Yang Rising (간양상항, 肝陽上亢) — where heat rises to the head due to suppressed emotions and overwork.

This state refers to the phenomenon where the liver's qi becomes blocked from extreme stress, and the energy congested there transforms into unnecessary heat that surges upward.

This is like a boiling pressure cooker placed over a flame.

Stress that cannot escape outward becomes hot steam that surges forcefully toward the head, putting excessive pressure on cerebral blood vessels and muscles.

From a Western medical perspective, this corresponds to the phenomenon of tension-type headache — where the sympathetic nervous system becomes excessively overactivated, causing the neck and shoulder muscles to remain in constant tension, ultimately producing an imbalance in blood flow to the brain.

When fatigue and tension accumulate over a long period, the body slows down the circulation of blood and fluids, causing an abnormal fluid residue called dampness-phlegm (담음, 痰飮) to accumulate within the body.

When these sticky residues obstruct circulation around the neck and head, they ultimately cause head and neck stiffness and pain (두항강통, 頭項强痛).

This situation is like a sink with a clogged drain backing up.

When fluid circulation is blocked by sticky dampness-phlegm, the flow of the entire body becomes completely congested, and pressure trapped in specific areas manifests as intense pain.

The phenomenon of heat rising upward and blocked circulation negatively affect each other, making symptoms increasingly entrenched.

What Are the Life Residues Weighing Down My Head?

So is there a way to escape the frustrating, heavy cycle of this pain?

Rather than relying solely on pain medication each time to forcibly cover up the pain, one should carefully reflect on the habits in daily life that obstruct the body's circulation.

Chronic sleep deprivation, excessive caffeine consumed to overcome fatigue, and the tense posture of hunching in front of a monitor — all of these are causes that block the body's flow.

The modern person's daily life, constantly tense and running without rest until it grinds, is like a clock wound too tight.

A spring coiled too tightly must be released gradually, little by little, for the clock to continue functioning without breaking.

Even just ten minutes a day — fully closing the eyes and practicing abdominal breathing to lower sympathetic nervous tension — is absolutely necessary.

Gently warming the stiff neck and shoulders with a warm towel to loosen them is also an excellent form of rest.

Reducing stimulating foods and caffeine and drinking plenty of clean water helps the heavy waste accumulated in the body to flow out smoothly.

However, if headache is suddenly accompanied by severe vomiting, vision loss, or physical paralysis, this may not simply be fatigue but a signal of serious cerebrovascular disease — you must immediately visit a medical institution for a thorough examination.

The Journey to Releasing Tension and Restoring the Body's Balance

True treatment is not simply suppressing symptoms — it is the integrated process of improving the body's environment by bringing down the rising heat and clearing away the residues obstructing circulation.

Carefully crafted personalized herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment gently release the body's suppressed tension and awaken its innate healing power, becoming an excellent tuner that fills the heavy daily life with clear, refreshed energy once again.

Quietly listening to the heavy signal of headache that the body sends and examining the pace of one's own life is the first step toward healing.

If you gradually release tension and find a little breathing room for your body, your body will demonstrate remarkable recovery power and reclaim a clear, light daily life once again.

You are never alone.

Ji-hun, too, now steps out of the clinic door looking considerably more at ease, as if he has finally taken off that heavy hat.

My role is to serve as a helper who opens that blocked flow and finds together with patients the key to restoring the balance of body and mind.

Even if not through me, I hope you will meet a healthcare provider who compassionately attends to your invisible suffering and can help fix your body's tangled clock together — and that you may fully shed the weight pressing down on your life.

Reviewed by Dr. Choi Jang-hyeok, Director of Dongjedang Korean Medicine Clinic