The areas of the brain activated when a person has a migraine are linked to those that regulate dizziness and motion sickness. This discovery could eventually make it possible to develop new treatments.
- Researchers have established a link between migraine, motion sickness and nausea using virtual reality.
- Ultimately, a better understanding of the brain mechanisms involved when a person suffers from migraine would make it possible to develop new treatments.
In France, migraine affects 20% of women, 10% of men and 5% of children according to’National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). It is characterized by repeated attacks manifested by headaches that last between 4 and 72 hours (without treatment or with ineffective treatment). These headaches can be associated with nausea, even vomiting and/or hypersensitivity to light and noise. Migraine has at least one of the following four characteristics: to manifest itself only on one side of the skull, that the patient has the impression of feeling the beating of his heart in his head, that the pain interferes with his activities until he feels the need to lie down and that this increases with movement, which prevents him from doing even simple physical activity.
Migraine is linked to motion sickness and dizziness
According to a study published in the journal Neurology, simulating thrill rides with virtual reality tools could alter brain activity in people with migraines. For this, individuals do not necessarily have to have a headache at the time of the experiment. “Our results show that areas of the brain linked to the processing of migraine pain overlap with brain systems that regulate motion sickness and vertigo, explains Gabriela Carvalho, researcher at the University of Luebeck, Germany and one of the authors of this study. People with migraines don’t just have headaches, they also suffer from other issues, like motion sickness and dizziness, which can really affect their quality of life. This study therefore gives us a much better idea of what is going on. [dans le cerveau des personnes qui en souffrent].” The objective of this study is therefore to better understand the cerebral mechanisms that take place during migraines.
65% of migraine sufferers felt dizzy
To conduct their study, the scientists ran magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brains of forty people while they watched animated videos of roller coasters in virtual reality. Half of them had chronic migraines, 80% were women and all of the participants were on average 30 years old. At the end, everyone was invited to answer a questionnaire. Thus, 65% of migraine sufferers experienced dizziness during the simulation, while this only concerned 30% of participants who never had headaches. In addition, they also indicated that their feelings of nausea were very high, twice as much as in the others according to the comparison made by the researchers. Finally, the symptoms experienced – nausea and dizziness – also lasted three times longer.
MRIs show greater activity in certain areas of the brain
The questionnaires provided data relating to the feelings of the individuals. The researchers then compared them to the MRIs in order to understand the brain activity that these symptoms triggered. According to their results, migraine patients actually had greater activity in areas of the brain responsible for vision, pain perception, balance and dizziness. On the other hand, they observed that the more people complained of disabling pain, the greater the activity of these different areas. “People with headaches and those without headaches process motion and gravity information differently, concludes Gabriela Carvalho. These results reflect this difference”. A better understanding of migraines could ultimately enable researchers to develop new treatments.
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