Traveling to space is a lot of fun, but can also be a
headache. Literally.
A new study of 17 astronauts found that the majority of them
experienced painful headaches when they traveled
beyond Earth. The findings prompted doctors to call for designating space headaches
as a new "secondary disorder."
Space headaches have been reported before, but until now
they were thought to be related to the common
motion sickness astronauts experience in space. The new study found that
the two maladies are not actually connected.
"Our research shows that space flights may trigger
headaches without other space motion sickness symptoms in otherwise super
healthy subjects," said lead researcher Alla Vein of the Leiden
University Medical Center in The Netherlands.
Doctors aren't sure exactly why so many astronauts
experience these pains, but they think it has to do with the effects of
microgravity on the human body, which include disrupting a person's sense of
balance and equilibrium.
The study followed one female and 16 male astronauts,
ranging from 28 to 58 years of age, during flights to the International Space
Station. During their space missions, 12 of the 17 astronauts (71 per cent)
reported headaches. Nine astronauts experienced headaches during launch, nine
while onboard the space station, one while spacewalking outside the station,
and two during landing. None of the astronauts had a history of recurrent
headaches on Earth.
Headache severity ranged from mild to severe, with some
astronauts describing the feeling as "exploding" and "heavy feeling."
They sometimes lasted for hours.
"Although headaches in space are not generally
considered to be a major issue, our study demonstrated that disabling headaches
frequently occur during space missions in astronauts who do not normally suffer
from headaches on Earth," Vein said. "Previous research has shown
that astronauts can be reluctant to reveal all the physical complaints they
experience in space, so the actual incidence could be even higher than our
study suggests."
The study is detailed in the June issue of the journal Cephalalgia.
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