My Head is a Barometer!

Understanding Barometric Pressure Headaches: How Does Weather Affect Your Headaches?
https://www.healthline.com/health/headache/barometric-pressure-headache#symptoms

Understanding Barometric Pressure Headaches: How Does Weather Affect Your Headaches?

If you have ever had a severe headache or migraine, you know how debilitating it can be. Not knowing when the next headache is coming can make it hard to make plans or, in some cases, to fully enjoy life.

If it seems like your headaches come on during or after changes in the weather, start paying closer attention. Changes in barometric pressure can induce headaches, so it’s important to be aware of upcoming weather changes if barometric pressure is a factor for you.

Barometric pressure refers to the pressure in the air or the amount of force that is being applied to your body from the air. Because our sinuses are filled with air, any change in that pressure can affect headaches.


Barometric pressure headaches occur after a drop in barometric pressure. They feel like your typical headache or migraine, but you may have some additional symptoms, including:

nausea and vomiting
increased sensitivity to light
numbness in the face and neck
pain in one or both temples

You may have barometric headaches if you regularly experience these symptoms with headache when it’s rainy or humid.


When the outside barometric pressure lowers, it creates a difference between the pressure in the outside air and the air in your sinuses. That can result in pain. The same thing happens when you are on a plane. As the pressure changes with the altitude on takeoff, you might experience ear popping or pain from that change.

A study in Japan looked at the sales of loxoprofen, a headache medicine. Researchers saw a connection between an increase in medication sales and changes to barometric pressure. From this, the researchers concluded that a decrease in barometric pressure causes an increase in the incidence of headaches.

The barometric pressure doesn’t have to change drastically to cause headaches, either. In a study published in 2015, researchers looked at the effects of barometric pressure on people with chronic migraines. The researchers found that even small decreases in barometric pressure induced migraines.

Another study out of Japan saw similar results. In that study, 28 people with a history of migraine kept a headache journal for one year. Migraine frequency increased on days when the barometric pressure was lower by 5 hectopascals (hPa) than the previous day. Migraine frequency also decreased on days when the barometric pressure was 5 hPa or higher than the previous day.