Headaches-
“So what’s the deal with head pain that hits just when you’re hoping to relax?“
For migraine sufferers, vacation headaches are all too common—here’s what might be at play.
The following written content by Sarah Garone
For most people, browsing through vacation photos is a fun trip down memory lane, remembering all of the cool places you’ve visited. For me, it feels more like recalling all the times I’ve had an incredibly inconvenient, massive headache: neck pain at the Sistine Chapel; dizziness on Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds; sound sensitivity at Westminster Abbey.
Yep, I suffer from the bad timing (and all-around bummer) of vacation headaches—and I’m definitely not alone. Headaches can, unfortunately, happen at any time, and getting laid up with a migraine on your precious PTO isn’t as uncommon as you might think.
So what’s the deal with head pain that hits just when you’re hoping to relax? Here are some of the precipitating factors for vacation headaches, according to experts—and what you can do to keep them from ruining your time off.
You have a let-down headache
Picture this: You’ve just settled into a beach chair with an umbrella-topped drink when—ugh—in the midst of this tranquil scene, you feel a migraine coming on. That, friends, is what’s known as a “let-down headache.”
“A let-down headache is a headache which occurs when there has been a drop in stress levels,” Deena Kuruvilla, MD, neurologist, headache specialist, and director of the Westport Headache Institute, tells Health. “Many patients with chronic or episodic migraine tell me that their headache frequency has been really well controlled on preventive migraine treatments, but then boom, they go on vacation and experience an attack!”
According to research from the journal Neurology, headaches, for some people, don’t get triggered from stress, but when stress is released, though it’s not exactly clear why. “While we do not know the exact cause of let-down migraine, one possibility that has been proposed is a fluctuation in our stress hormone levels,” says Dr. Kuruvilla. “These stress hormones increase during times of stress and then decline when we are relaxed.”
Fortunately, to keep your relaxation from backfiring into a headache, you do have options. The National Migraine Foundation advises stabilizing stress levels by getting enough sleep, managing time commitments, and spending quality time with a partner or friend. Especially prior to leaving for vacation, these and other stress management activities can help avoid the spike-and-drop pattern that might trigger a migraine.
Lots of smaller stressors added up
The truth is, not every aspect of vacation is stress-free bliss. From last-minute packing woes to the difficult in-laws you may be visiting, there are any number of reasons why you might need a vacation from your vacation. All of these can add up to headaches—literally and figuratively.
Again, self-care strategies for de-stressing are your best bet for prevention. Try downloading a guided meditation to listen to in the car, practicing deep breathing exercises in the airport terminal, and giving yourself quiet, unscheduled breaks throughout your trip. Read more from Health.
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