Headache reduces the brain
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
In Copenhagen, a team of experts concluded that frequent headaches and migraines can cause irreversible brain cell damage and even affect its volume.
In one of the research centers, scientists were interested in the issue of the impact of migraine on the brain, it was previously claimed that severe headaches can not significantly damage the brain cells, but the new study proved quite the opposite.
A new study was conducted for several years and scientists were able to identify that about 15% of the world's population suffers from severe headaches. In addition, headaches accompanied by a sense of anxiety are even more dangerous for human health, in particular, in such states, not only the cells in the brain begin to die off, but their volumes decrease.
To such results, scientists came after they analyzed a lot of brain pictures of healthy people and people suffering from chronic headaches. People underwent examination for several years, as a result it was possible to establish that in chronic headaches there is a 34% higher risk of irreversible damage in the brain, and if headaches are accompanied by a sense of anxiety, the risk increases by 68%, while in healthy people the probability the development of such damage is 2 times less. The specialists also found out that in people suffering from frequent headaches the brain volume gradually decreases, in comparison with the pictures at the beginning of the experiment.
A few months ago, scientists named a number of reasons that lead to damage to brain cells. According to experts, the bad habits and lifestyle of a person are directly affected by the state of one of the main organs of the human body.
In the course of research, scientists identified 5, in their opinion, the most severe:
- Sleep. Experts believe that a person should sleep at least 7 hours a day, otherwise irreversible damage to neurons of the brain and deterioration of his performance begin.
- Nervous system. The more situations in a person's life that make him experience strong negative emotions, the more the brain is affected.
- Smoking. Toxins penetrating the body with each cigarette smoked, negatively affect the entire body, but the brain cells are particularly affected.
- Alcohol. Frequent and excessive consumption of alcohol leads to dehydration of the body, and the human brain needs fluid. When there is a shortage in the body, special mechanisms are being activated to fill the lack of fluid, but if such reserves are not enough, brain neurons get irreversible damage.
- Drugs. Experts have long proven that any narcotic substances, especially heavy drugs (cocaine, heroin, "crocodile", narcotic smoking mixtures, ecstasy) lead to serious damage to brain cells that do not recover even after people stop using them.
Now, chronic headaches can be added to this list.
[