“My head feels heavy.”
“I slept well, but I still can’t shake off the fatigue.”
“By evening, even my neck and shoulders are rock-hard.”
Have you ever felt this way?
In fact, even among people who feel that their head is tired, it’s not uncommon for the area around the neck to be under heavy strain.
Today, with more time spent on desk work and smartphones, “strain on the neck” is drawing attention around the world.
This time, we look at the relationship between the neck and the head, including some of the latest research.
What a Study of About 43,000 People Found
In 2025, a research group including China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing analyzed 25 studies covering about 43,000 people.
The study reported that
• people who sit for 4 or more hours a day have a higher risk of neck pain
• sitting for 6 or more hours raises that risk even further
according to its findings.
It also showed a particularly strong link with lifestyles involving long hours of computer and smartphone use.
It has become clear that the more your work centers on a desk, the more easily strain builds up in your neck.
Every Day, Your Neck Supports a Head Weighing About 4 to 6 kg
The human head weighs about 4 to 6 kg (roughly 9 to 13 lb).
That’s about as heavy as a bowling ball.
Your neck keeps supporting that heavy head all day long.
What’s more, when you spend a long time looking at a computer or smartphone, you tend to fall into a posture in which your head juts forward (forward head posture), putting strain on the muscles around your neck.
A review published in 2025 reported that this forward head posture is seen in more than 70% of office workers, students and people with high screen time.
For people who look at screens for long hours at work and in daily life, it’s by no means an unusual posture.
A Tired Neck Can Lead to Problems Like These
When the muscles around your neck are under strain, it can lead to problems such as
• a heavy feeling in the head
• tension in the neck and shoulders
• eyes that tire easily
• difficulty staying focused
• finding long hours of desk work hard going
and similar discomfort.
Of course, these symptoms have many possible causes, and not all of them come from strain on the neck.
However, because the head and neck are closely connected, caring for the area around your neck is thought to be one key to feeling comfortable day to day.
It’s also recommended that, rather than staying in the same posture for long periods, you stand up and move your body at least once an hour and gently move your neck and shoulders.
Looking for Head Massage in Shinjuku? Visit La HEAD
La HEAD is a dry head spa salon with fully private rooms, a 3-minute walk from Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station.
Through a technical partnership with nationally licensed staff at an osteopathic clinic (seikotsuin), we bring knowledge of the body’s structure and how the muscles connect into our treatments.
And by caring for not only your head but also your neck, shoulders and arms as one connected whole, we offer treatments tailored to the condition of each guest’s body.
“My head has been feeling heavy lately.”
“The fatigue in my neck and shoulders just won’t go away.”
“Long stretches of desk work are tough on me.”
If this sounds like you, we warmly invite you to visit La HEAD.
In a calm, fully private room, we offer time for both body and mind to relax.
We look forward to welcoming you.