Space Headaches Affect Astronauts
June 3, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Granted, most of us aren’t hurtling ourselves into outer space, but this is an interesting finding. Astronauts are subject to space headaches caused by their out-of-world exerpience.
According to findings of a study recently published in the journal Cephalalgia,
12 of the 17 astronauts (71 per cent) reported 21 headache episodes during the space missions – nine during launch, nine during the stay at the space station, one during activities outside the space station and two during landing. None of the astronauts had a history of recurrent headache on earth.
- Five astronauts reported headaches during one of the time frames, six during two time frames and one during four time frames.
- Headache severity ranged from mild to severe, with 29 per cent reporting mild intensity, 65 per cent reporting moderate intensity and six per cent reporting severe intensity.
- Only two of the headaches, during launch, matched the international criteria for migraine and the remainder were tension-type or non-specific headaches.
In 77 per cent of the episodes the astronauts described their headache as “exploding” and, or, “heavy feeling”.
- Launch headaches lasted for an average of 5.6 hours and space station headaches for an average of 1.6 hours.
- When each headache was assessed, 76 per cent demonstrated no association with the main symptoms of space motion sickness, such as nausea, vomiting or vertigo.
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