diff --git a/sanic/response.py b/sanic/response.py
index 2c4c7f27..f2eb02e5 100644
--- a/sanic/response.py
+++ b/sanic/response.py
@@ -103,10 +103,14 @@ class HTTPResponse:
 
         headers = b''
         if self.headers:
-            headers = b''.join(
-                b'%b: %b\r\n' % (name.encode(), value.encode('utf-8'))
-                for name, value in self.headers.items()
-            )
+            for name, value in self.headers.items():
+                try:
+                    headers += (
+                        b'%b: %b\r\n' % (name.encode(), value.encode('utf-8')))
+                except AttributeError:
+                    headers += (
+                        b'%b: %b\r\n' % (
+                            str(name).encode(), str(value).encode('utf-8')))
 
         # Try to pull from the common codes first
         # Speeds up response rate 6% over pulling from all
diff --git a/tests/test_requests.py b/tests/test_requests.py
index 5895e3d5..13225892 100644
--- a/tests/test_requests.py
+++ b/tests/test_requests.py
@@ -33,6 +33,31 @@ def test_text():
     assert response.text == 'Hello'
 
 
+def test_headers():
+    app = Sanic('test_text')
+
+    @app.route('/')
+    async def handler(request):
+        headers = {"spam": "great"}
+        return text('Hello', headers=headers)
+
+    request, response = sanic_endpoint_test(app)
+
+    assert response.headers.get('spam') == 'great'
+
+
+def test_non_str_headers():
+    app = Sanic('test_text')
+
+    @app.route('/')
+    async def handler(request):
+        headers = {"answer": 42}
+        return text('Hello', headers=headers)
+
+    request, response = sanic_endpoint_test(app)
+
+    assert response.headers.get('answer') == '42'
+    
 def test_invalid_response():
     app = Sanic('test_invalid_response')
 
@@ -47,8 +72,8 @@ def test_invalid_response():
     request, response = sanic_endpoint_test(app)
     assert response.status == 500
     assert response.text == "Internal Server Error."
-
-
+    
+    
 def test_json():
     app = Sanic('test_json')