Answer to Question #258285 in Microeconomics for MIKE

Question

Is a headache the cost of studying to hard?

Answer 1

As you pack all your textbooks into your overnight study and prepare for this wonderful exam, keep the following in mind: It can cause headaches in the future.

 First of all, it is true that college students are prone to headaches. In a self-reported study of more than 300 college students in Brazil, the prevalence of headache was 87%, predominantly tension headache and migraine.

 Second, headache triggers vary from person to person. However, there are some known headache and migraine triggers that can occur while studying for a large test.

 For example, long-term use of a computer or long-term reading can cause eye strain. In addition, headaches are a symptom of eye strain in some people. Stress is a well-known trigger for tension headaches and migraine headaches. In fact, a recent study of more than 5,000 participants (presented at the 4th European Conference on Headache and Migraine Trust) found that increased stress was directly correlated with increased headache.

 In addition, lack of sleep can cause headaches and migraines in some people. And both stress and irregular sleep patterns can come together and really affect your headache. A small observational study of patients with chronic tension headache and migraine found that either high stress or low sleep "strongly predicted" headache for two consecutive days.