Change in temperature causes migraine

• May 2, 2024

It says a well-known saying that "Spring alters blood" . A recent study conducted by the Beth Elizabeth Dean Medical Center in Boston (United States) states that, in effect, the environment affects health and that changes in barometric pressure can precipitate the migraine.

Other atmospheric effects, however, such as humidity and air pollution, do not have the same impact. In this regard, the doctor Kenneth Mukamal , director of the study published in the magazine Neurology, has stated: "Our results are consistent with the idea that intense headaches they can be caused by external factors. These findings tell us that the environment does affect our health and, in terms of headaches, it may impact many people. "

In Mexico alone, around 18% of women and 6% of men suffer from migraines, which are more common among young people than among the elderly and strongly affect the economy due to work absences. Although some factors are known to trigger intense headaches, such as certain foods, alcohol, stress and hormones, the presumed relationship with the temperature It has always been controversial.

Dr. Mukamal added that patients should try to identify the factors that precede their headache. While those related to temperature can not be avoided, doctors may prescribe medications to prevent the effects.

The experts say

According to Dr. Peter Goadsby, director of the Center for Headache at the University of California, San Francisco, United States, and professor of neurology at the London Institute of Neurology, it is a study that confirms previous research done in Canada. that the change in barometric pressure -and, in this case, the increase in temperature- can precipitate the migraine. "The challenge for clinical science is to link this factor with the brain mechanisms that are involved in this condition."

For his part, the coordinator of the Headache Study Group of the Spanish Society of Neurology, Samuel Díaz Insa, assures that changes in time can cause a certain decompensation with headaches and pressure headaches - quickly going from high to low - are triggers of a migraine attack. From the neurological point of view, says the specialist, "it has been scientifically proven that this relationship exists."