EFFECTS OF FOOD-DEPRIVATION AND A STRESSOR ON HEAD PAIN

This study sought to experimentally validate 2 self-reported trigger f actors of headaches, namely negative affect (anxiety, depression, and anger) and hunger, and to investigate whether these triggers activated the same or different physiological mechanisms. Students (38 women an d 18 men) who had suffered from frequent headaches (migraine or tensio n type) for 6 months or more were randomly assigned to 4 conditions, w hich involved manipulating hunger by means of 19 hr of food deprivatio n and negative affect by means of a stressor (difficult to solve anagr ams). The findings were consistent with self-reports that hunger and n egative affect can precipitate headaches in individuals who suffer fro m both migraine and tension-type headaches. The physiological response s to the experimental conditions differed, but the findings were not c onclusive with respect to whether the trigger factors operated by mean s of a common biological pathway.