Tips to Help Avoid Recurring Headache While Traveling

Having suffered from recurring headaches for much of my adult life I was glad to find this article from the National Headache Foundation in my local paper. I am condensing the information I found for your perusal and hope that the guidelines that they offer can be of help to you.

According, to the National Headache Foundation (NHF) winter’s approach sees more Americans booking air fares and packing up the SUV as they travel across the country to escape the cold or to enjoy the sites while children in school. However, preparing for vacations and traveling are known to create added stress and tension two of the key components that are known to bring on headaches. The NHF estimates that over 45 million Americans experience chronic, recurring headaches and based on a recent on-line survey 68 percent of respondents said they experience headaches more frequently when traveling.

To address this issue the NHF offers travelers the following tips:

1. Maintain your normal sleeping and waking patterns (seventy-three percent of respondents attributed late-night visits and early morning tours to the disruption of sleep schedules that can lead to headaches).
2. Plan in advance (sixty-six percent of survey respondents stated that a well-planned trip eased their stress when traveling. This included arriving at an airport at least two hours before the scheduled departure or if driving making hotel reservations in advance).
3. Discuss your travel plans with your healthcare provider (Eighty-eight percent of respondents stated that adjusting medications based on travel may be needed due to high altitudes, lack of activity or different climates.)
4. Don’t skip or delay meals (sixty-nine percent of survey respondents reported the lack of available food as a component that negatively impacted their headache condition.) 

The NHF, a non-profit organization, is a source of help to sufferers’ families,  physicians who treat headache sufferers, allied healthcare professionals and to the public. The NHF accomplishes its mission by providing educational and informational resources, supporting headache research and advocating for the understanding of headache as a legitimate neurobiological disease. For more headache information or to find out more about NHF you can visit their website at (www.headaches.org).

[tags]National Headache Foundation, headache, travel, airport travel, stress headaches, headache tips, recurring headaches[/tags]