Migraine, cluster headaches linked to body’s internal clock

ISLAMABAD: If it feels like you are always getting headaches at the exact same time of day you are hardly alone.

New research shows a sound biological reason for this phenomenon and it all has to do with the body’s internal clock the circadian system. Researchers published a meta analysis along with an accompanying editorial today in the online issue of Neurology the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Data on migraine and cluster headaches shows a strong correlation between these headaches and the time of day with a circadian pattern present in 71 percent of cluster headache patients and 50 percent of migraine patients. The study s author says the findings help illuminate why headaches happen at consistent times and potentially open the door to new circadian based treatment options.

Headaches can be like clockwork

We had noticed that a lot of cluster headache patients have headaches at the same time each day, study author Mark Joseph Burish, MD PhD of the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston in Texas and a member of the American Academy of Neurology told Healthline.

I had one patient that was getting a little bit irritated with how long it was taking to ask all the questions and they said If you can just wait for 15 minutes you will see what my headache looks like, Burish continued. That is how confident they were of the timing to the headaches and that really struck me. The meta analysis confirmed what Burish and others already suspected headaches often follow the body s circadian rhythms. However cluster headaches and migraine followed different patterns. Cluster headaches were found to be more likely in the spring and fall with attacks generally occurring between late night and early morning. Migraine on the other hand showed a consistent low ebb with few attacks late at night and a broad peak ranging from late morning to early evening. Burish says that this understanding of how and when headaches occur could lead to new ways to mitigate the effects of these headaches.