Researchers have found that the strain of juggling married life and a secret lover leads to stress and tension for the cheating partner, which can lead to migraine pain that could cause ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain.

In their study, the researchers studied hundreds of patients across Italy who reported migraines and found that some of the worst affected were having affairs.

“What we found is that it was mostly men who suffered worst from this phenomenon, which is all to do with stress and hypertension (high blood pressure).

“It would appear that men have a more severe feeling of guilt when cheating which leads to increased stress and tension,” lead researcher Lorenzo Pinessi was quoted by the ‘Daily Mail’ as saying.

According to Pinessi, the President of the Italian Migraine Society, those who had headaches were more likely to develop migraines, and a small percentage went on to suffer fatal aneurysm.

His advice for frazzled adulterers was to “take a time-out from the affair and have a brain scan”.

And, according to him, headache-prone cheats should “avoid the Karma Sutra and stick to simple sexual intercourse” to limit pressure on the heart.