SALON

Wednesday, Aug 18, 2010 10:19 PM UTC

Migraines, hearing loss way up in teens

Some disagreement over whether loud music in headphones is the cause

By

Topics: Teenagers, Health,

Migraines, hearing loss way up in teensIn this Aug. 13, 2010 photo, Matthew Brady, 17, of Foxborough, Mass., poses for a portrait in his home while wearing ear phones. Brady, who has some mild hearing loss, used to listen to the device while running on a treadmill with the volume turned up. A stunning number of teens have lost a little bit of their hearing _ nearly one in five _ and the problem has increased substantially in recent years, a new national study has found. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)(Credit: AP)

Turns out parents don’t just have to worry that their teenagers will have proper access to sex education and healthy snacks. A study released yesterday revealed some startling statistics about the very youthful. Almost 20 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 19 have some form of hearing loss. That’s a 30 percent jump from the late ’80s and early ’90s.

The obvious answer would have to be that darn rock music and those newfangled iPods, right? Not so fast. The experts’ interpretation of the study has led to some divergence of opinion, though: ABC News claims loud music is the culprit, and Time goes so far as to blame iPods outright. One thing all teenagers can do, though, is protect themselves form further hearing damage, as outlined by CBS News.

Another study related to teenagers was conducted by a Norwegian team and released today. This one concerned migraines and tension headaches and which teens are likeliest to suffer from them. Of 6,000 kids studied, those who were overweight, smoked or didn’t exercise were the ones who reported the most head pain. The researchers weren’t able to figure out if those factors were the cause of the headaches, though, so it might be a big ol’ coincidence. In the meantime, U.S. News and World Report has some migraine-easing tips for teens and not-so-teens.

More Christine Mathias.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations