Barometric Pressure Headaches

Also known as 'altitude headache' or 'weather headache', this condition occurs in people who are sensitive to change in weather or altitude. The change in atmospheric pressure occurs due to storms, temperature changes, altitude changes, etc. These are all common natural phenomena that occur everywhere. However, one worrying factor that accompanies these changes for some people is barometric pressure headaches.

There is a connection between barometric pressure and headaches. This is also validated by the fact that often people who travel by air through various time zones can land up with headaches. Given below are the details regarding headaches caused due to changes in barometric pressure and ways to deal with them.

The first question in everyone's mind is that whether a change in the atmospheric pressure leads to headache. A comparison was done between those who do not generally suffer from headaches and those who were known to be migraine sufferers, or people who often complained of recurrent bouts of headaches. The results pointed out that not only was pressure found to greatly affect headaches, especially migraines, but so did a change, especially a rise in temperature.

Generally barometric pressure headaches were seen due to weather changes including low pressure, high temperatures, high humidity, and cloudy skies. A substantial amount of evidence also pointed towards lightening being a trigger factor for migraines.

• Keep a track of the kind of weather changes that instigate any kind of unwanted effects on your body. This would especially include headaches and feeling of nausea. You can use a digital barometer to help you keep a track of the exact weather change and its effect on your body.

• You can always talk to your healthcare provider to find out if there is any alternative to deal with these headaches. In such cases, your healthcare provider may suggest a good pain killer, when there is a change in the weather, before you travel, or when a headache begins to come in such a situation. 

In certain severe cases, a doctor may even recommend doubling your normal medication dosage when there is a change in pressure. You'll want to discuss these options with your doctor first though.

• For some people a little bit of humidity helps in mitigating the symptoms of a headache. If you don't have easy access to outdoor areas that have high humidity, then a simple remedy is to lie down or instead try to stay in a room with a humidifier or ionizer.

As concluded by many studies, there is a definite connection between barometric pressure and headaches. In fact, this has prompted quite a few weather forecast websites to not only tell you the weather, but to include in their forecasts warnings about how the weather might affect health conditions like headaches or arthritis. The best way to deal with these headaches though, is to keep a track of what weather changes can induce them and to stay wary of them.