UK’s top summer pain hot spots

Nationwide research released today has identified the UK’s summer pain hot-spots, with Portsmouth, Newquay and Bournemouth the cities that locals themselves rate as the biggest pains in the country.

Nurofen asked people from 20 cities across the UK to grade their locales on common summer headache-inducing issues such as hot and overcrowded public transport, too many tourists and noise late into the night.

Portsmouth scored most highly on the pain-o-meter with a score of 50/100, followed by Newquay and Bournemouth versus Newcastle, the country’s most pain-free city, which totalled just 33/100. Coming close behind are the other Northern cities of Sheffield and Edinburgh.

The top five summer seasonal concerns we wish we could target are:

- A lack of air conditioning in indoor public spaces (63% of people)
- Hot, overcrowded public transport (62%)
- Traffic jams caused by tourists (60%)
- Twisting ankles wearing flip-flops due to uneven pavements (55%)
- Neighbours playing music late into the night (54%)

Almost a year into the credit crunch and Brits are still considering ‘stay-cations’ instead of holidaying abroad. Almost three quarters (71%) of us are planning on staying on home turf this year – a 14% increase from 2008 – and, in fact, half of the population is planning to visit a British public event over July and August, although it seems we still have our doubts about how enjoyable they’ll be!

Over half (52%) of Brits are not looking forward to the now-typical extreme weather, with blazing sun potentially causing dehydration and almost a quarter (24%) are dreading the headaches they’ll inevitably get from excessive noise.

Don’t let these tiresome little triggers spoil what is potentially the greatest time of year. As psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos states, it is important to tackle these headaches at the source before they greatly affect your summer fun.

She says, “It’s interesting that some of the most popular seaside destinations, like Bournemouth and Newquay have actually been revealed as pain hot spots. These concerns, as identified by residents, can cause so much stress as they can lead to physical symptoms – feeling overheated can lead to headaches and sitting in traffic for hours can cause backache.

"Perhaps the residents from Nurofen’s study associate the summer holidays with these physical side effects which greatly affects their enjoyment of what is otherwise one of the most popular seasons.”

For more information visit nurofen.co.uk.