While we all know ‘global warming’ to be our major source of headaches here at WUWT, this from the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center , suggests lightning is also a cause. To me, this is something that seems too statistically small to be real, especially when dealing with human subjects. Further, since thunderstorms produce localized weather effects, including fluctuations in barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity, often all at the same time in conjunction with lightning, and these all affect the human sinus, this may be nothing more than a case of confirmation bias. – Anthony
Research ties lightning to onset of headache, migraines
CINCINNATI—University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have found that lightning may affect the onset of headache and migraines.
These results, published in the Jan. 24, 2013 online edition of the journal Cephalalgia, are the first tying lightning to headache and could help chronic sufferers more efficiently anticipate headache and migraine arrival and begin preventive treatment immediately.
Geoffrey Martin, fourth-year medical student at UC, and his father Vincent Martin, MD, professor in the division of general internal medicine, UC Health physician and headache expert, led the study which showed that there was a 31 percent increased risk of headache and 28 percent increased risk of migraine for chronic headache sufferers on days lighting struck within 25 miles of study participant’s homes.
In addition, new-onset headache and migraine increased by 24 percent and 23 percent in participants.
“Many studies show conflicting findings on how weather, including elements like barometric pressure and humidity, affect the onset of headaches,” Geoffrey Martin says. “However, this study very clearly shows a correlation between lightning, associated meteorological factors and headaches.”
Participants who fulfilled the criteria for International Headache Society-defined migraines were recruited from sites located in Ohio and Missouri and recorded their headache activity in a daily journal for three to six months.
During this time, the location where lightning struck within 25 miles of participant’s homes as well as the magnitude and polarity of lightning current was recorded.
“We used mathematical models to determine if the lightning itself was the cause of the increased frequency of headaches or whether it could be attributed to other weather factors encountered with thunderstorms,” says Vincent Martin. “Our results found a 19 percent increased risk for headaches on lightning days, even after accounting for these weather factors. This suggests that lightning has its own unique effect on headache.”
He says that negatively charged lightning currents were also particularly associated with a higher chance of headache.
“There are a number of ways in which lightning might trigger headaches,” he says. “Electromagnetic waves emitted from lightning could trigger headaches. In addition, lightning produces increases in air pollutants like ozone and can cause release of fungal spores that might lead to migraine.”
“This study gives some insight into the tie between headaches or migraines, lightning and other meteorologic factors,” says Geoffrey Martin. “However, the exact mechanisms through which lightning and/or its associated meteorologic factors trigger headache are unknown, although we do have speculations. Ultimately, the effect of weather on headache is complex, and future studies will be needed to define more precisely the role of lightning and thunderstorms on headache.”
Other researchers involved in the study include Timothy Houle, Wake Forest Medical Center; Robert Nicholson, St. Louis University and Mercy Health Research and Ryan Headache Clinic; and Albert Peterlin, Environmental Rights and Releases Exchange.
The study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.
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Somehow, when I see “The study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.” I expect to see some sort of “lightning pill” coming to a drugstore near you soon.
‘While we all know ‘global warming’ to be our major source of headaches here at WUWT, ‘ how can that be when everyone agrees it isn’t happening, or, it has happened, but is cooling, or it is happening, but it is normal?
Somehow, when I see “The study was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.” I expect to see some sort of “lightning pill” coming to a drugstore near you soon.
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Who needs a pill when we’ve got Jenny Craig?
Convective weather changes many things in the air we breath. When people say they can smell the rain, they are probably smelling the increase in mold and bacterial spores. This is a common allergy trigger which can cause headaches.
Old ENT Doc
whats next…?? ” Saliva Causes Stomach Cancer… Only when swallowed in small amounts over long periods of time…” George Carlin…
Migraine or Nummular headache? Connection between Nummular headache and lightning has already been identified: http://thehumanfabric.umdnj.edu/?p=1796
(Well, in Harry Potter, anyway)
Seriously, though, does the study take into account the time from lightning strike to headache? (no web link that I could see). That could help to show whether it’s the lightning itself or the weather.
Hey Anthony. Please do not turn WUWT into the journal of junk science. There is lots of that. This one is too little of the quality science you have always promulgated.
Much of the current peer/pal reviewed stuff is publish or perish junk, failing either the common sense test or the quality control tests that you have championed. Better filters even if less frequent postings, please.
Rud, It is an interesting question whether the aches & pains indices published on weather sites are total junk or not. This lightning paper is almost certainly junk.
I have a seasonal allergy (weed pollen) and somewhat regular headaches. Never had both at the same time. But I often have a headache against the backdrop of an atmospheric depression or a high-wind situation of any nature. In such situations, my father and I tend to have headaches simultaneously. I’m pretty positive lightning had nothing to do with it, and did not even co-occur. I tend to remember my headache episodes because they make me more sensitive to the environment.
Just a data point.
The much derided tinfoil hat may help.
On a more serious note: It is a proven fact that areas of high EMF radiation causes uneasiness and tensing of muscles, It also affects the brain chemicals.. Ghost hunters use EMF detectors to identify areas of high EMF which are known to potentially cause visions and other unexplained phenomenon..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMF_measurement
Not tonight, I have a global warming.
Rud Istvan says:
January 24, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Hey Anthony. Please do not turn WUWT into the journal of junk science. There is lots of that. This one is too little of the quality science you have always promulgated.
Much of the current peer/pal reviewed stuff is publish or perish junk, failing either the common sense test or the quality control tests that you have championed. Better filters even if less frequent postings, please.
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OH come on.. A little fun at the expense of the idiots who published this junk… Considering the amount of junk that is “peer Reviewed” and still gets by. This is just more to add to the “FAIL” file..
The manner in which this idea is dismissed by so many here shows a sad lack of understanding of the physical world. Lightning is intimately associated with the Schumann resonance ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances#Dependence_on_global_lightning_activity ) because the electrical field of the entire earth is vibrating at about 7.6 Hz and near multiples of that. Also, the Schumann resonance (and its multiples) are right in the middle of normal Human brain wave frequencies. The brain waves are electrical and it is well accepted that entrainment of brain waves is possible. I would have been very surprised if there was no connection between lightning and brain activity of all types.
Lightening will definitely give you a headache. I was struck by lightening in 1990. Sure enough I had a headache along with muscle aches and pains from a few burns.
I admit I have this morbid curiosity of the dead body count of people freezing to death due to global freezing temperatures. Not because I enjoy seeing people die of freezing climate conditions, but because I like showing the Man-Made Global Warming Alarmists the folly of their religious ideology. The body bag count of people freezing to death in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere in the 2012-2013 winter seasons musy be over 1000 right now. I’d like to know the actual number. It’s what the Sun’s Doing Stupid!
Cold Claims Over 300 Lives In Eastern Europe – Tens Of Thousands Without Power…Media Pretend It’s Warming!
“The European media are just too embarrassed about having gotten it completely wrong when it comes to global warming. So they just continue pretending that the cold isn’t really happening. As people are freezing to death all around them this winter, they keep telling themselves (and us) it’s getting warmer! I’ve never witnessed such an astonishingly surreal situation.
As hundreds of lives are being lost this winter, the media refuse to see it, talk about it, to believe it. Instead they keep telling the people something has to be done about the warming. They tell us about Australia 20,000 km away. This is like watching a weird Star Trek episode of a planet where people are walking around like zombies. Can someone send a doctor over to declare this media brain dead?
To get the news about the deadly cold that is gripping Europe, Russia, Siberia and a large part of Asia, you really have to search beyond the flat-line mainstream media.”
http://notrickszone.com/2013/01/22/cold-claims-over-300-lives-in-eastern-europe-tens-of-thousands-without-power-media-pretend-its-warming/
“During this time, the location where lightning struck within 25 miles of participant’s homes as well as the magnitude and polarity of lightning current was recorded.”
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25 miles ?, does it happen before the storm/ or after ?
I’m getting a headache just reading this post, with no lightning in the CONUS.
But, it must be a relief to the study participants.
Maybe the “tinfoil hat brigade” are getting zapped by lightning? Obviously not, as then they would be enlightened and they are most certainly not.
johninoxley says:
January 24, 2013 at 7:53 pm
“Maybe the “tinfoil hat brigade” are getting zapped by lightning? Obviously not, as then they would be enlightened and they are most certainly not.”
Maybe the lightning is zapping the “tinfoil hat brigade” with critical thinking skills and calling out out the “Lying BS Brigade”?
Thanks for the post Anthony.
There is way too much gravity. I needed some levity to counteract.
These researchers should be encouraged to play a few rounds of golf in a thunder storm while wearing pointed metal hats.
How do they know it was the lighting and not the thunder?
Aside from the EM radiation from lightning, it’s not implausible that the static electric field surrounding a thunderstorm could affect the electrical activity in the brain.
In my experience, the atmospheric conditions that can lead to lightning also causes increased sensitivity. However lightning strikes don’t seem to have any effect. Very high voltage fields seem to cause euphoria that sometimes results in a much later “hangover” headache. pg
I do get barometric pressure headaches, and there is no pain relief medicine that works. It comes from a ‘sudden’ change in pressure, and not a slow change where one can become acclimated with time. Lightning does not seem to be an issue.
I’m enjoying all the brainstorming going on over this article.
michaelwiseguy – excess winter mortality in the UK:
1950/1951 106,400
1951/1952 44,950
1952/1953 82,670
1953/1954 47,180
1954/1955 64,670
1955/1956 67,560
1956/1957 29,080
1957/1958 57,780
1958/1959 77,920
1959/1960 41,060
1960/1961 68,880
1961/1962 68,820
1962/1963 89,600
1963/1964 49,510
1964/1965 41,730
1965/1966 57,120
1966/1967 25,990
1967/1968 70,260
1968/1969 50,630
1969/1970 67,790
1970/1971 34,110
1971/1972 46,270
1972/1973 46,630
1973/1974 34,710
1974/1975 31,920
1975/1976 58,100
1976/1977 34,590
1977/1978 41,240
1978/1979 48,490
1979/1980 30,120
1980/1981 32,900
1981/1982 42,380
1982/1983 42,820
1983/1984 30,240
1984/1985 47,380
1985/1986 49,330
1986/1987 26,370
1987/1988 32,970
1988/1989 21,160
1989/1990 47,200
1990/1991 37,940
1991/1992 34,850
1992/1993 25,650
1993/1994 25,900
1994/1995 27,290
1995/1996 40,190
1996/1997 47,690
1997/1998 22,900
1998/1999 46,840
1999/2000 48,440
2000/2001 24,840
2001/2002 27,230
2002/2003 23,970
2003/2004 23,450
2004/2005 31,640
2005/2006 25,270
2006/2007 23,740
2007/2008 24,690
2008/2009 36,450
2009/2010 25,810
2010/2011 26,080
2011/2012 24,000
from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health2/excess-winter-mortality-in-england-and-wales/2011-12–provisional–and-2010-11–final-/ewm-reference-tables.xls worksheet ‘Figure 1’.
Maybe they have it backwards – maybe headaches cause lightning.