n-back training and headaches

[rlc]

Hey everyone.

I started doing n-back training the day before yesterday, and the
training seems to be causing pain in the front of my head, about two
inches above the eyes. It grows worse the longer I do the training,
but if I stop for a while it will go away. One exception to that is
that yesterday, I did the training for a while(40 sessions) and the
headache became very intense and lasted for several hours eventually
prompting me to take advil.

Has anyone else had experiences with this?

p.s. aside from the pain, the training is making me noticeably
sharper.

[Gwern Branwen]

I had headaches at firs too, but then I realized it was just the
ergonomics of the situation - between dirty glasses, dirty monitor,
and a dark room (and the blinding white default color settings), the
situation was not at all propitious.

When I fixed those issues, the headaches largely disappeared.

--
gwern

[Ashirgo]

A normal phenomenon. You just try too much, putting too much strain on
it. It has been reported by some other people and was also my
experience, but now it is long gone. Nevertheless, I did not need to
take any painkillers...

Ash

[Jonathan Toomim]

I don't experience pain when I do n-back, but I do experience a
strange sensation in roughly the same place. The fact that you get
headaches from n-back doesn't surprise me, though. The sensation I
get from doing n-back is very similar to the sensation I get from
doing HEG neurofeedback, and HEG neurofeedback does cause headaches in
some people.

I have a hypothesis for what's going on:

The brain physically enlarges during heartbeats, as blood vessels are
filled and stretched. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJxPLNiRqnA> I
would venture a guess that the intense activation of certain parts of
the prefrontal cortex might cause physical expansion of that part of
the brain, which in turn could stretch the meninges or blood vessels
that surround the brain, or cause them to rub against the skull,
triggering an inflammatory response. The inflammatory response would
have the effect of causing the tissue in the area to swell, which very
well could exacerbate or prolong the problem. Ibuprofen (the active
ingredient of Advil) blocks the inflammatory response, so this
hypothesis is consistent with the fact that it helped.

It's important to remember that there are no sensory neurons in the
mammalian brain. Any sensation you get is coming from the tissue
surrounding the brain. Also, the meninges (especially the dura mater)
are pretty tough and thick, so if the outer meninges are rubbing
lightly against the skull, it's very unlikely to cause any irritation
or damage to the brain tissue underneath. However, the prostaglandins
produced in inflamed meninges might diffuse into brain tissue. That
could make microglia migrate to that part of your brain, which might
make you foggy-headed for a few hours.

My advice: Take things a little bit easier. I don't think you should
let these headaches completely deter you from doing n-back, but I also
think you should try to avoid doing n-back so long and hard that you
get persistent headaches. Instead of doing 40 sessions at a sitting,
you could try splitting it into two 20-session sittings in a day. It
might also help to insert a 5- or 10-minute break every 10 sessions or
so. Over time, you might find that you can do more and more without
getting headaches.

If you do get a headache that lasts, I think taking a little ibuprofen
would be a good idea. When it comes to inflammation, mammalian cells
tend to be a bit trigger happy, and this seems to be one of the many
cases in which it's maladaptive.

Of course, I'm not a doctor, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Jonathan

[rlc]

Jonathan thanks for that very good post and interesting hypothesis.
The headaches are becoming less intense, but there is still a
noticeable sensation there in the same spot. I certainly am not going
to let it deter me from my training, as I am already seeing benefits
from it, especially in regards to my reading. In my line of work, I
have to read technical papers daily. Previously It was a slow chore
to get through them, but now, I can do it with much less effort.