Learning to Living With Headaches

The National Headache Foundation, after performing a comprehensive study, has found that more than 45 million United States citizens currently suffer from sort of chronic form of headache with more than 28 million suffering from migraines – of which nearly a quarter are children and teenagers.

A headache is generally regarded by physicians as an acute pain in the head or the upper neck, though there are more than 150 types of headaches currently classified through the American Medical Association. However, they are usually broken down into three major categories: primary headaches, secondary headaches, and cranial neuralgias.

Link Between Weather & Headaches Proven

Researchers at Bet Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts have found that weather conditions may cause migraines and other headache symptoms.

The study found that temperature is the biggest weather related trigger in that with every nine degree increase in Fahrenheit, headache risk increases by 7.5-percent. Low barometric air pressure also plays a role in non-migraine headaches, and that automobile exhaust – or nitrogen dioxide – had some effect on non-migraine headaches.

The research team compared notes and medical records on more than 7,000 patients that were treated in the hospital’s emergency room over a period of seven years while also checking pollution levels and weather conditions that may have led to the headaches and other symptoms.