Do astronauts experience ‘space headaches’?

House journey and nil gravity can take a toll on the physique. A brand new research has discovered that astronauts with no prior historical past of complications could expertise migraine and tension-type complications throughout long-haul space flight, which incorporates greater than 10 days in space. The research was printed in Neurology.

“Adjustments in gravity attributable to space flight have an effect on the perform of many elements of the physique, together with the mind,” stated research writer W. P. J. van Oosterhout, MD, Ph.D., of Leiden College Medical Heart within the Netherlands.

“The vestibular system, which impacts steadiness and posture, has to adapt to the battle between the alerts it’s anticipating to obtain and the precise alerts it receives within the absence of regular gravity. This will result in space motion sickness within the first week, of which headache is essentially the most steadily reported symptom. Our research exhibits that complications additionally happen later in space flight and may very well be associated to a rise in strain throughout the cranium.”

The research concerned 24 astronauts from the European House Company, the U.S. Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company. They had been assigned to Worldwide House Station expeditions for as much as 26 weeks from November 2011 to June 2018.

Previous to the research, 9 astronauts reported by no means having any complications and three had a headache that interfered with each day actions within the final 12 months. None of them had a historical past of recurrent complications or had ever been recognized with migraine.

Of the total individuals, 22 astronauts skilled a number of episodes of headache throughout a total of three,596 days in space for all individuals.

Astronauts accomplished well being screenings and a questionnaire about their headache historical past earlier than the flight. Throughout space flight, astronauts stuffed out a each day questionnaire for the primary seven days and a weekly questionnaire every following week all through their keep within the space station.

The astronauts reported 378 complications in flight. Researchers discovered that 92% of astronauts skilled complications throughout flight in comparison with simply 38% of them experiencing complications previous to flight.

Of the total complications, 170, or 90%, had been tension-type headache and 19, or 10%, had been migraine.

Researchers additionally discovered that complications had been of a better depth and extra more likely to be migraine-like throughout the first week of space flight. Throughout this time, 21 astronauts had a number of complications for a total of 51 complications. Of the 51 complications, 39 had been thought of tension-type complications and 12 had been migraine-like or possible migraine.

Within the three months after return to Earth, not one of the astronauts reported any complications.

“Additional analysis is required to unravel the underlying causes of space headache and discover how such discoveries could present insights into complications occurring on Earth,” stated Van Oosterhout. “Additionally, extra effective therapies must be developed to fight space complications as for a lot of astronauts this a serious downside throughout space flights.”

This analysis doesn’t show that going into space causes complications; it solely exhibits an affiliation.

A limitation of the research was that astronauts reported their very own signs, so they might not have remembered all the data precisely.