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Neurologist Werner Becker’s patients often cited one common trigger for their migraines: the weather.
When storms rolled in and the atmospheric pressure dropped, those patients reported worse migraine symptoms. “I’ve heard some patients refer to themselves as human barometers,” says Becker, a professor emeritus in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine
And it isn’t just migraine patients. Roughly two-thirds of people with arthritis and fibromyalgia report increased joint and muscle pain during stormy weather. Local weather changes are often associated with an increase in the number of searches for pain symptoms, and 70 percent of patients with chronic pain say they would alter their plans due to the weather. Weather changes are also linked to respiratory and cardiac health effects.
(How scientists are unraveling the mysteries of pain.)
Despite decades of research on the topic, much about the impact of weather on the body isn’t well understood. Although plenty of studies have investigated the relationship between pain and barometric pressure, they’ve had mixed results. Some have ultimately found no clear link between weather and chronic conditions. This can be frustrating for patients, many of whom swear their pain worsens when weather shifts, Becker says.
But there are some ways to prevent weather-related health effects. Here’s what we do know about how the weather can impact health—and what you might be able to do about it.
Migraines
Scientists don’t yet know the ultimate cause of migraines, debilitating headaches that often come with nausea and light sensitivity. Researchers believe that abnormal brain activity leads to pain and that some genes make you more prone to attacks.
The connection between migraines and weather is similarly mysterious. In an early study on this topic, Becker showed a link between migraine symptoms and Chinook winds—warm, high-speed westerly winds specific to the northwestern U.S. and Canada that are correlated with a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, or barometric pressure. The study found that around 30 to 40 percent of patients were more likely to report episodes either the day before or during the Chinook winds.
But several other studies have failed to find a correlation between weather and migraine, muddying the picture.
Jan Hoffmann, a neurologist, migraine specialist, and clinical reader at King’s College London, speculates that it might be because migraine triggers don’t necessarily cause migraine. There are dozens of known migraine triggers, from poor sleep to caffeine withdrawal, most of which are associated with sudden changes in daily routines, Hoffmann explains. But triggers only increase the possibility of a migraine, so it’s not guaranteed that a coming rainstorm will actually cause one.
(Scientists might have unlocked the trigger for morning migraines.)
The biological mechanism linking atmospheric pressure to migraines is also unclear. Based on studies in rodents, experts believe it could be that pressure changes increase activity in certain areas of the brain. Similarly, studies report that changes in pressure in the middle ear might boost brain activity in areas that control coordination and balance. Other theories posit that changes in barometric pressure might also constrict blood vessels and cause changes in blood flow to the brain, which is known to aggravate headache symptoms.
Hoffmann says that changes in pressure are likely the reason why migraine patients experience worse headaches during weather days. He adds, however, that it’s difficult to untangle the impact of barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity since pressure drops typically come with all three.
What to do about it: To stay ahead of the weather, Hoffmann recommends patients do their best to maintain consistent sleep and eating schedules, get enough sleep, and practice stress management. That’s easier said than done, he says, and it’s unlikely to stop migraines entirely, but “it could make a difference.”
Joint pain
The relationship between joint pain and weather is similarly complex. Heather Bukiri, a rheumatologist and assistant professor at UCLA, says that roughly two-thirds of her patients with joint inflammatory diseases, like arthritis and lupus, experience weather-related joint pain.
Her clinical experiences match up with what the literature says about joint pain and weather: Several studies have shown that about 65 percent of patients experience joint pain during changes in weather conditions—specifically during decreases in barometric pressure, increases in humidity, and decreases in temperature.
But while humidity and temperature are more consistently correlated pain symptoms, Bukiri says that some studies have failed to find a link between barometric pressure and pain.
(How you think about physical pain can make it worse.)
That might be because many of the studies on the subject are done on a short time scale and rely on patient’s self-reports, Bukiri says. “It’s not like you’re putting patients in a controlled setting and telling patients to do the same thing every day, so that creates problems when you’re trying to generate validated results.”
Bukiri says there are some theories for why changes in barometric pressure would cause joint pain. One is that the spaces in between our joints are confined spaces with slightly negative pressure, and any pressure changes outside the body can cause this space to expand or contract, causing pain.
What to do about it: To prevent weather-related pain, Bukiri said that patients should do their best to keep their home environments warm and dry, and take pain medication preemptively to relieve symptoms. Most importantly, however, patients should make sure to stretch and move around during stormy, humid days. “It’s one of the best things you can do to maintain your joints,” she says.
Cardiovascular disease
Barometric pressure also has a measurable impact on cardiovascular and respiratory health, says Patricia Best, a cardiologist and coronary disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. She explains that most studies on the subject have studied people hiking or traveling to higher altitudes, where atmospheric pressure is typically lower.
“With higher altitude, you immediately get physiological changes,” Best said. “You get an increase in blood pressure and blood viscosity and increased pressure on the pulmonary arteries.”
Temperature changes also have strong effects. Studies show that both excessively hot and cold temperatures can cause higher-than-normal numbers of deaths due to heart attack and stroke, Best explains. While excessive heat is associated with a 2.2-fold increase in death, excessive cold is much deadlier for people with cardiovascular disease, associated with a 9.1-fold increase in deaths. It’s unclear why, but it might be because it’s harder for your body to adapt to cold.
(Here’s what extreme heat does to the body.)
“Your body tries really hard to regulate your temperature,” Best says, explaining that cold temperatures cause the blood vessels in your arms and legs to constrict, as your body shunts blood to your most important organs, like the brain. This constriction causes an increase in blood pressure and blood thickness, and if you have cardiovascular disease, it could increase the chance of a heart attack. During extreme heat, in contrast, your body starts pumping more blood to the skin, which can make the heart work overtime.
It’s even worse when you combine low barometric pressure and cold temperatures. Studies show that rapid weather changes that come with both changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature have a higher impact on cardiovascular disease together than either parameter alone
Less is known about how bodies sense changes in barometric pressure, but there are some theories. Best says drops in atmospheric pressure are accompanied by drops of oxygen, and so she speculates that this might force the heart to work harder to bring oxygen to your organs and muscles.
What to do about it: Experts suggest that patients with cardiovascular disease do their best to keep warm when cold weather hits and exercise caution when traveling to areas with higher altitudes. “In someone with normal cardiovascular health, it’s no big deal. But if you have heart artery blockages, it can be dangerous,” Best says. While your body will eventually adjust to lower barometric pressure, she adds, “you should take it easy the first couple of days.”
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