Patty’s Ponderings-I Told You, Math Makes My Head Hurt

Math and I have never gotten along. Never! Math actually makes my head hurt. Seriously! Back in my youth, I tried to explain this to my parents to no avail. My mom’s response was usually something along the lines of: “I’ll make your head hurt, now go do your homework!”

If my mom were alive today, I’d accost her with new scientific proof that indeed there was and is a mind-body connection regarding the pain that mathematics caused me.

Psychologists at the University of Chicago have proven that math anxiety exists and indeed can cause physical pain. Their research indicated that the more anxiety a person felt when approaching a mathematics task, the more brain activity increased in areas which perceive threat and pain.

Aha! So there Mom, I told you math gave me headaches!