Most headaches last between 30 minutes and a few hours, though some types can persist for days. The duration depends almost entirely on what kind of headache you’re dealing with. A tension headache might wrap up in half an hour, while a migraine can grind on for three days. Knowing the typical timeline for each type helps you figure out whether what you’re experiencing is routine or worth investigating further.
Tension Headaches: 30 Minutes to 7 Days
Tension headaches are the most common type, and they have the widest duration range. They can resolve in as little as 30 minutes or hang around for up to a week. Most fall somewhere in the middle, lasting a few hours. The pain tends to feel like a band of pressure around your head rather than a sharp or throbbing sensation, and it usually builds slowly rather than hitting all at once.
If your tension headaches show up fewer than 15 days per month, they’re classified as episodic, which is what most people experience. Stress, poor sleep, dehydration, and long hours staring at a screen are the usual triggers. Over-the-counter pain relief, a short walk, or simply resting in a quiet room will shorten many episodes considerably.
Migraines: 4 to 72 Hours
An untreated migraine attack typically lasts 4 to 72 hours. That three-day upper limit is a formal diagnostic criterion from the International Headache Society, so if your headache stretches well beyond 72 hours, it may not be a standard migraine, or it may be one attack rolling into another.
Migraines differ from tension headaches in character, not just length. The pain is usually one-sided and pulsing, often accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to light, or sensitivity to sound. Some people experience an aura (visual disturbances like zigzag lines or blind spots) 20 to 60 minutes before the pain phase begins. Taking medication early in the attack, ideally within the first hour, can cut the total duration significantly.
Cluster Headaches: 15 Minutes to 3 Hours
Individual cluster headache attacks are shorter than migraines but far more intense. Each episode lasts 15 to 180 minutes and produces severe, stabbing pain around one eye or temple. People often describe it as the worst pain they’ve ever felt. Unlike migraines, cluster headaches tend to make people restless and agitated rather than wanting to lie still in a dark room.
The tricky part with cluster headaches is the pattern. Attacks often strike multiple times per day during “cluster periods” that last weeks or months, then disappear entirely for months or even years before returning. So while each individual headache is relatively short, the overall cycle can dominate your life for an extended stretch.
Sinus Headaches: Tied to the Infection
A true sinus headache is caused by a sinus infection and should resolve within seven days of your other symptoms clearing up. If you have a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics, the headache should fade within a week of starting treatment. Pain that continues beyond that window suggests something else is going on.
Here’s the catch: the vast majority of self-diagnosed “sinus headaches” are actually migraines. Migraines can cause facial pressure, nasal congestion, and watery eyes, which makes the confusion understandable. If your “sinus headaches” keep coming back without clear signs of infection (thick discolored mucus, fever), a migraine diagnosis is worth exploring.
When Duration Signals a Bigger Problem
A headache becomes “chronic” when it occurs 15 or more days per month for at least three months. For chronic migraine specifically, at least eight of those days must include migraine features like throbbing pain, nausea, or light sensitivity. Crossing this threshold doesn’t just mean more frequent pain. It changes how the condition is treated, often shifting the focus toward daily preventive strategies rather than treating individual attacks.
One common and underrecognized cause of headaches that won’t quit is medication overuse. If you’re taking pain relievers for headaches more than two or three days per week, the medication itself can start generating rebound headaches, trapping you in a cycle. Breaking the cycle means stopping the overused medication, which temporarily makes things worse. Withdrawal symptoms, including worsened headaches, nervousness, nausea, and insomnia, typically last 2 to 10 days but can stretch to several weeks.
Headaches With a Clear Trigger
Some headaches have an obvious cause, and their duration tracks with that cause. Caffeine withdrawal headaches typically begin 12 to 24 hours after your last dose and can last up to nine days. If you’ve recently cut back on coffee or energy drinks, that timeline fits neatly.
Post-concussion headaches follow a different pattern entirely. After a mild traumatic brain injury, headaches usually appear within the first 7 to 10 days. In most cases they resolve within a few weeks, but persistent post-concussive symptoms last longer than three months by definition, and some people experience them for a year or more. A headache that started after a head injury and hasn’t improved after several weeks deserves medical attention.
Red Flags That Change the Timeline
Certain headache features matter more than duration alone. A headache that peaks within seconds (sometimes called a “thunderclap” headache), one that’s accompanied by fever and a stiff neck, or one that comes with confusion, vision loss, weakness on one side of the body, or difficulty speaking needs urgent evaluation regardless of how long it’s lasted. The same goes for any headache pattern that’s genuinely new and different from what you’ve experienced before, especially after age 50.
A single tension headache that lasts a day or two is almost never dangerous. But a headache that keeps getting worse over days without responding to anything, or one that wakes you from sleep repeatedly, is telling you something your body can’t say in words.