The influence of sleep duration on headache pain and frontalis EMG

Recent evidence has been presented suggesting that 'depression' headaches and classic migraines may be related to extended sleep duration. This analogue study was designed to evaluate the possibility that mild to moderate headaches induced by excessive sleep might be related to increased muscle activity. Eight subjects who experienced headaches as a function of increasing sleep duration by 2 h were evaluated in headache (i.e., extended sleep) and a non-headache (i.e., normal sleep) conditions. Sex- and sleep-duration matched controls were evaluated under the same sleep conditions, although none experienced headaches. Frontalis electromyographic (EMG) data were evaluated in a 2 X 2 analysis of variance. The results indicated no EMG differences between groups or across sleep conditions, even though all experimental subjects experienced headaches on the extended sleep night. Discussion focuses on the implication of these results for future headache research.