Hogwarts Headache

A Hogwarts headache is a generalized headache as a result from spending many hours reading an unusually long (or heavy) volume such as one of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. The pain resolved in one to two days after the patient finished the book.

The term Hogwarts headache was coined by Dr. Howard J. Bennett in a Letter to the Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine on October 30, 2003. Dr. Bennett's letter was entitled "Hogwarts Headaches - Misery for Muggles"[1]

Bennet had to evaluate three children between 8 and 10 years of age who presented with a two-to-three-day history of generalized headaches. In each case, the headache was dull and the pain fluctuated throughout the day. One patient also reported neck and wrist pain. All the patients were afebrile and free of any symptoms suggesting an underlying infectious or neurologic cause. On further questioning, it was determined that each child had spent many hours reading J.K. Rowling's latest book in the Harry Potter series. Two patients read the book lying prone, and the third propped the book on her legs and rested her head on a pillow.

The presumed diagnosis for each child was a tension headache brought on by the effort required to plow through a more than 700-page book. The obvious cure for this malady — that is, taking a break from reading — was rejected by two of the patients, who instead preferred paracetamol, a painkiller called acetaminophen in the US, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. In all cases, the pain resolved one to two days after the patient had finished the book.

You wonder why parents take their children to see a doctor with a bit of a headache after reading for hours on end, something they've never done before. Parents are strange creatures.

[1] Bennett: Hogwarts Headaches — Misery for Muggles in The New England Journal of Medicine – 2003. See here.