There’s something about beaches flooded with sunshine, and snowy mountain roads leading to off-the-grid spots that do a body right. Ideally, vacations leave us rested, relaxed, and invigorated. But the well-traveled know that sometimes, we can return sick, sniffling, and sneezing.
The easiest scapegoat for an ill-timed vacation illness is travel itself. But it’s not always germs, coughing babies, or late nights spent exploring new cities that make us sick. Sometimes, simply taking a break is all it takes. The phenomenon is called leisure sickness, a term coined by Ad Vingerhoets, a psychologist in the Netherlands.
What is leisure sickness?
When we take breaks from work (on weekends or in the first few days of vacation), some people complain of headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, and even colds or flu-like symptoms, Vingerhoets tells Condé Nast Traveler.
It’s not so much our trips that are to blame, but rather the issue could boil down to levels of adrenaline, a hormone that’s a crucial part of our fight-or-flight response. In the over-worked or over-stressed, Vingerhoets says adrenaline levels can remain high even when work is over. (Normally, levels would sink so that your body can unwind.)
Stated more simply: “The engine is kept running and new energy is constantly produced,” says Vingerhoets. “This ‘useless’ energy may result in an imbalance in the body, resulting, among other things, in a weakened immune system, which may imply that one is more vulnerable to infectious disease.”
When our brain finally recognizes that we're in a setting where we can finally, truly rest, little nuances with our health (like aches and pains, headaches, or fatigue) that we may have tuned out due to the rush of everyday life can show up to cause chaos, says Heidi Hanna, the executive director of the American Institute of Stress.
How to prevent It
In those who suffer from it, leisure sickness can be a signal that your traveling and non-traveling days surrounding a trip are out of balance. Stress experts offer the below remedies for keeping your days more even-keeled:
Exercise: Work out after work or a stressful day—it may facilitate the unwinding process, Vingerhoets says. This is key in preparing your body for the much bigger unwind: your vacation.
Meditate: Changing how you react to stress—doing things more consciously and mindfully, less reactively, more calmly and efficiently, and less judgmentally—can impact health, says Jeffrey Greeson, a mindfulness researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Keep in mind that you can meditate anywhere—even on a plane.
Sleep in: Booking a sleep-friendly hotel is the first step in fending off illness during a vacation. Lack of sleep is linked with higher levels of bodily inflammation and lower levels of immune function. Without proper rest, Greeson says the ability of natural killer cells to kill those infected by a virus weakens, as does our immune cells’ ability to protect us from getting sick.
Celebrate in moderation: Getaways should be fun but excess alcohol, caffeine, and an unhealthy diet can hinder immune health, says Hanna, making it more likely that you fall ill. Consider being sensible for the day and swapping poolside co*cktails for a trip to the juice bar. (Don't know where to start? Here are the 10 best in the country.)
Build in buffer days: If you’re able, ease into and out of vacation by tacking a day onto the beginning and end of your trip before and after you travel, suggests Hanna. It might mean using an extra vacation day or two, but this will help you wind down and wind back up more gradually.
