Stress headache relief: it starts with your neck.

A stress headache, which doctors call a tension headache, is a dull pressure around your head, like a tight band. For relief, start with your muscles: get up, stretch your neck, loosen your jaw, eat at regular times and skip the extra coffee.

Half five. You've just come off your fifth call and feel it creeping up the back of your neck. Headache is the most common pain there is, ahead of back pain. I see it often in the managers I work with, on days with no lunch and clenched teeth.

Stress headache: where does it hurt and how do you spot it?

It usually squeezes all the way round and climbs from your neck towards your forehead as the day goes on.

• A band that tightens. Forehead, temples and the back of your head together.
• Your neck is already stiff. Shoulders creeping up to your ears.
• It follows packed days. Hours of screen time and no lunch.

Why does stress cause headaches?

Because under pressure the muscles in your neck, shoulders and jaw tend to stay tight, and that tension can reach your head.

Your head drifts forward. At the screen your chin pokes out and the small muscles at the base of your skull stay shortened for hours. That posture encourages headaches that start in the neck. Aim for ear over shoulder.

You clench your teeth. Stress builds up in the jaw. Your chewing muscles can keep working even while you're just listening. Chewing gum adds to it.

You've skipped lunch. Under stress, on an empty stomach, your blood sugar can drop. The signs of that dip include headache, sugar cravings and tiredness.

One coffee calls for another. The more you drink to keep going, the more you want, and you sleep worse that night. It's the classic headache of overdoing it.

What helps: in the moment and over the week

In the moment, five minutes and a closed door. If anything hurts, stop.

Get up and stretch your neck. Two minutes on your feet, then ear towards shoulder and chin towards chest. Hold thirty to sixty seconds wherever you feel the pull, and let your shoulders drop as you breathe out.

Loosen your jaw: try this. Clench your teeth and a muscle bulges in front of your ear. Press your thumbs there until you find the sore spot. Then open and close your mouth twenty times, slowly, and work your thumbs along the muscle.

Bring the revs down. Two breaths in through your nose and one long breath out through your mouth, one to three times. If you've skipped a meal, eat something with protein.

Over the week, three fixed rules. Regular mealtimes, even on packed days. Three coffees a day, four at most, the last straight after lunch. The top of your screen at eye level, and two minutes on your feet every hour.

A stress headache often warns you first: your neck stiffens, your teeth clench. Act as soon as you notice the signs. And protect your seven or eight hours of sleep: even one short night can set it off.