Don't miss the latest stories
Virtual Roller Coasters Unravel Increased Brain Activity In Those With Migraines
By Mikelle Leow, 27 Jul 2021
Subscribe to newsletter
Like us on Facebook
Image via Photo 24676798 © Lifang1025 | Dreamstime.com
Virtual roller coasters are only fun—and the word is being used loosely here—when there are no means to travel and you’ve exhausted your list of things to do during your time at home. Thankfully, they’re finally living out a worthwhile purpose, in that they’re helping researchers learn more about the enigmas that are migraines.
In an unwinding trip of a study, a team of scientists from the University Medical Center Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany invited 40 participants to sit in for simulated roller coaster rides. Half the people frequently had migraine headaches, averaging four episodes per month, and the other half were made the control group.
The researchers would later capture the riders’ brain scans through functional magnetic resonance imaging, a technique that tracks brain activity by observing changes in blood flow, CNET details. The team shared its findings in the Neurology scientific journal last Wednesday.
For about half an hour, the participants were seated in scanners and asked to watch roller coaster footage with scenes simulating upward, downward, left and right directions. With their headphones on, they could hear the motor’s friction against the tracks.
While no one suffered a migraine during the experience, the migraine-prone reported more dizziness (65%) than people who don’t normally get the headaches (30%). When the respondents were asked to assess their motion sickness on a scale of one to 180, people who regularly had migraines presented an average answer of 47, while the control group gave a score that averaged 24. Furthermore, the migraine-inclined complained of symptoms that were more intense and lasted longer.
These accounts aren’t that surprising, since people who routinely get the headaches also oftentimes experience dizziness, balance issues, and “misperception of their body's place in space,” the team describes.
However, the reports corresponded with nerve cell activity found in the participants’ brain scans.
In the scans of those who get migraines, the scientists noted increased activity in five regions of the brain, including parts responsible for visual processing and motor regulation.
Arne May, one of the researchers in the study, said changes in brain activity could “relate to abnormal transmission of visual, auditory and sensory information in the brain.”
Additional analysis and a larger sample would be required to validate these insights in hopes to ultimately discover better ways to treat migraines. “By identifying and pinpointing these changes, our research could lead to a better understanding of migraine, which could in turn lead to the development of better treatments,” May explained.
[via CNET, cover image via Photo 24676798 © Lifang1025 | Dreamstime.com]
Receive interesting stories like this one in your inbox
Also check out these recent news