Weekend Migraines – 5 ways to avoid them

Weekend migraines are the term given to migraines which strike at the end of the working week; not exclusively Saturday or Sunday, but rather migraines which are triggered on your days off from work. This is the time when you should be relaxing from a hard week of work; instead, you spend your rest days with debilitating pain. Weekend migraines are an infuriating experience for anyone suffering with them. If not managed well, weekend migraines will cause long term damage to one’s mental health.

Have a look at our Top 5 ways to avoid weekend migraines. We hope it can help you:

1 – Keep drinking the same amount of caffeine

People tend to alter their caffeine habits during the weekend. Caffeine is the go to pick me up for early morning starts during your work week, as well as a necessary attention booster in the middle of the day. As you reach the weekend, the need for chemical stimulants diminishes. This change in caffeine levels could possibly result in weekend migraines. To avoid this, try to keep your caffeine levels as steady as possible throughout the week.

2 – Keep your sleep schedule the same

Sleep is of course something which varies from work week to weekend. Unfortunately for migraineurs, this fluctuation in your sleep cycle is what might trigger an attack. For those of you that enjoy sleeping late on Friday night, you could be triggering a weekend attack. Sleeping in late and changing your normal work week sleep cycle is another trigger for weekend migraines.

As unfair as it might be, if you wish to avoid ruining your entire weekend, try to stick to the same sleep schedule as you do all week. If you are intent on cheating, know that it is ok to sleep later than normal sometimes, as long as you can wake up consistently at the same time everyday.

3 – Eat at the same time

Changes in your diet during the weekend are another possible cause of weekend migraines. It would be cruel to suggest you eat exactly the same as your work week, especially if your work week involves a rushed breakfast, a stale lunch and a lazy dinner. We do strongly suggest, however, you try to eat at the same time as you would during the week. You can experiment to see if mid meal grazing triggers a migraine or not, but always err on the side of caution.

4 – Manage your alcohol consumption

This is an obvious risk factor for migraines. Drinking alcohol on a Friday evening runs the risk of triggering a migraine for the rest of the weekend. You know your own body, so only you know what your normal tolerance is for drinking alcohol; whether you can tightrope walk drinking without triggering a migraine. Just beware that a change in alcohol levels during the weekend will at least be a cumulative risk factor, along with other weekend fluctuations, that may trigger an attack.

5 – Check for triggers

During your work week, you have a pretty scheduled movement pattern, usually between work and home every day. You should have already taken action to remove or avoid as many migraine triggering factors as possible whilst at work and at home. Is this attention to detail the same during your weekend? Weekends can be a lot more chaotic and uncontrollable than work weeks, especially if you enjoy going out. Restaurants, bars, clubs, cinemas: any place not your own can contain many migraine inducing triggers.

If you haven’t already, make a conscious effort to assess your weekend relaxation locations for migraine triggers. Perhaps your weekend migraines can be isolated to only one or two locations out of dozens. If this is the case, simply make alternate arrangements and enjoy your weekend without the pain of a throbbing migraine.