Sunglasses can ease Migraine Pain

LONDON: Suffering from migraine? Fret not, slip on a pair of a shades, for a new study has revealed that sunglasses can help in easing the debilitating pain from the condition, even at night.

Previous researches have found that even at night, light intensifies a migraine headache but failed to explain the exact reason behind the cause.

Now, a team, led by Prof Rami Burstein of Harvard Medical School, has found the reason why light makes migraine worse - by identifying a new visual pathway which underlies sensitivity to light during migraine in both blind individuals and in individuals with normal eyesight.

In fact, migraine pain are believed to develop when the matter surrounding the brain and central nervous system becomes irritated and 85 per cent of sufferers become sensitive to light.

Prof Burstein said they should do anything to avoid light during an episode. "Patients may wear sunglasses, even at night. The dimmest of light can make migraine pain worse," the British media quoted him as saying.

In their study, the researchers showed that light increased the effects of migraines by recruiting two groups of people who suffered regular severe headaches.