You expect the seasonal temperature of around 75 degrees, but the reader board is blinking “90.” As you stand in front of the open refrigerator, you briefly consider your day, but it’s so hot that just thinking is a headache.
It isn’t just folklore: A recent studyshows that unexpectedly warm temperatures, even unseasonably warm days in winter, can trigger migraines. High summer seems a good time to consider the work of the Harvard researchers, who published their findings in the March 10 issue of Neurology.
The researchers are mindful of the study’s impact, saying it isn’t definitive proof, nor a reason to move across the country to a more favorable climate. People who keep a migraine diary might want to add notes about the heat, and they should take precautions so they don’t tweak other migraine triggers.
The records of 7,000 visitors to the emergency room at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess between 2000 and 2007 revealed the relationship between heat and migraines. If the temperature rose at least 9 degrees more than expected, then within 24 hours, the number of people visiting the emergency room with headaches rose 7.5 percent.
The difference in temperature compared to an average day is the key. Kenneth J. Mukamal, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, led the study, which concluded that temperature was a strong trigger.
Keep this in mind as you seek the coolness on the other side of the pillow or ponder your car radiator's strength as you inch along the freeway. Think of the heat as a warning and do what you can to avoid a painful day.
http://health.msn.com/blogs/daily-dose-post.aspx?post=1207306