Does Lightning Cause Headaches?

Thursday, January 24, 2013 - 17:30 in Health & Medicine

Head Case Wikimedia Commons A new study finds a link between lightning and migraines. Some people say they can feel storms coming. New research indicates chronic headache suffers might be able to sense lightning. In a study online today in the journal Cephalalgia, University of Cincinnati researchers say that there's a increased chance of headaches when lightning is nearby. Participants recruited based on the criteria for International Headache Society-defined migraines were instructed to record their headaches in a diary every day for three to six months. For chronic headache sufferers, the study found that the risk of headache increased 31 percent when lightning struck within 25 miles of participants' homes, and the risk of migraine increased 28 percent. The way weather affects headaches isn't precisely known. The study's authors used mathematical models to account for other factors that could be contributing to an increase in the frequency of headaches....

Read the whole article on PopSci

More from PopSci

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net