In conjunction with National Headache Awareness Week, June 3-9, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, makers of Excedrin headache medicine, commissioned the Excedrin@Work Headache-by-Profession Index, a survey to determine which professionals are most likely to suffer from headaches in the workplace.

Accountants won the survey, logging the highest percent (49 percent) of workers who reported suffering weekday headaches. Next came librarians (43 percent), followed closely by bus and truck drivers (42 percent).

According to Larry Newman, MD, director of The Headache Institute at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, factors that contribute to on-the-job headaches include stress, environment, and skipped meals.

In the Excedrin@Work survey, participants were asked to report what they felt were the reasons for their workday headaches.

• Accountants cited sloppy bookkeeping of disorganized clients as the main source of headaches.
• Librarians said their headaches derive from people who don't know how to use research resources.
• Truck and bus drivers attribute most of their headaches to bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Dr. Newman suggested that a healthy work environment can go a long way towards preventing headaches, and recommended a comfortable but supportive chair, proper ventilation, soothing lighting, and getting fresh air at least once a day as potions for a clear head. Dr. Newman also recommends that headache sufferers treat the headache at its onset by finding the headache medicine that works best and keeping it handy at all times.

Headache-preventing exercises can be found at the Excedrin Web site, as well as an article on how to describe your headaches to your doctor in an effort to find the best treatment.