Smartphones Diminish Effect of Painkillers For Heachache, Says AIIMS Study

If social media and net surfing means the world, this news is for you. Headache will be your new constant and even stress reliever pain killer will be of no aid. A study by researchers at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has found that smartphone users are more prone to suffer from headaches caused by migraines and even after being habitual consumer of painkillers will find less relief!

For the study, 400 people were used a subjects in India who witnessed frequent headachesrelated to migraine, stress and other kinds and not due to a clinical condition. Among the 400 subjects , 206 used smartphone heavily and while 194  were no phone users. Researchers found subjects who did not use smartphones are of the older age group, lowe socioeconomic status and education level that the ones who used it.

Headache due to smartphone: What the study on 400 subjects revealed

The findings further suggest that smartphone users at 96% are more vulnerable towards pianreliveing drug consumptions for headache than non-users at 81%. Smartphone users popped in eight pills per month compared to five pills for non-users, the study said.

However, the time span for which the head ache occurs or how periodic was its occurrence  and how long it lasted was not different in two cases. The root of the pain is also unclear however suspects are phone’s lighting, neck position, eye strain etc.

The study published in the journal Neurology: Clinical Practice concluded that even if it needs extensive research, finding are ‘concerning.

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"While the results need to be confirmed with larger and more rigorous studies, the findings are concerning, as smartphone use is growing rapidly and has been linked to a number of symptoms, with headache being the most common," said study author Deepti Vibha, from AIIMS in New Delhi and reported IANS.

However, on the brighter side smartphone features like audio functions, hands-free setting, brightness settings, voice activation can come a long way in easing headaches of the users.