---

BBC, UK
Oct. 30, 2003
news.bbc.co.uk

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 4891 • Posted: Friday October 31, 2003  

---

Children are getting migraine headaches by reading the latest Harry Potter book, a Washington doctor has said. Dr Howard Bennett said three children have complained of headaches caused by the physical stress of reading the 870-page Order of the Phoenix.

It has nearly three times as many pages as the first Harry Potter book.

The George Washington University Medical Centre doctor called them “Hogwarts headaches”, after the wizard school that the book’s hero attends.

In a tongue-in-cheek letter written to the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Bennett wrote: “The presumed diagnosis for each child was a tension headache brought on by the effort required to plough through an 870-page book.

Escalation

“The obvious cure for this malady – that is, taking a break from reading – was rejected by two of the patients,” he said.

He added that in all cases the pain went away one or two days after the patient had finished reading the book.

To support his diagnosis, Dr Bennett used a chart showing how the length and weight of each of the Harry Potter books had increased each time, from 300 pages for book one to 870 for book five.

“If this escalation continues as Rowling concludes the saga, there may be an epidemic of Hogwarts headaches in the years to come,” he added.

Meanwhile, sales of the series of five Harry Potter books on audio have topped the one million sales barrier.

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: Harry Potter Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: Harry Potter Read Another Article Previous entry: AUM founder remains silent as lengthy trial concludes Next entry: ABC wades into tricky religious territory with special on Jesus Christ RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books Harry Potter Most Popular Today I know the dark side of Scientology…I almost lost my friend when she became obsessed with it Indictment against rabbi Elior Chen: Shook, beat, fed children feces ‘Cult’ program in NYC schools Church of Scientology told to drop Churchill images

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.