The return to work after the summer vacations can become a cause of anguish for many people, triggering the Post Vacation Syndrome. This syndrome in most cases responds to the current lifestyle of Western culture, which is faster and more impatient. Dr. Miquel Casas, member of TibHealth.com, a leading company in the identification of first class doctors, explains what this syndrome consists of: “it is an Adaptive Disorder in which the person responds with clinical symptoms to a specific stressor, the return to work. This occurs because the person, coming from a period of rest, is not able to respond to the high number of demands that the return to work entails. Usually this symptomatology disappears in a few weeks, when the organism gets used to respond to high demands”.
It is hard to adapt
The so-called Post-Vacation Syndrome is part of what psychologists call Adaptive Disorder, which is characterized by the appearance of emotional discomfort in response to stress and which generates anxious and depressive symptoms, reducing the person’s usual performance. Dr. Casas explains that this occurs because “the body has relaxed during the summer vacations, during the summer we do not respond to so many demands or obligations and our body is usually guided by the rules of satisfaction. We must understand that the greater the distance between the pleasure of the vacations and the stress in the work activity, the greater the possibility of suffering from post-holiday stress”.
It can indicate low motivation and discomfort at work
A very appropriate indicator to know if post-holiday stress will appear is the level of work stress that a person has before going on vacation. As the specialist explains, “post-holiday stress can appear with very different intensities, usually with daytime drowsiness, apathy, inability to concentrate, physical discomfort that usually includes headaches and gastrointestinal disorders”.
Jobs with high demands that leave little margin of decision to the employee and that do not have a vocational component or high motivation on the part of the employee, are the most prone to suffer this syndrome. Also, jobs that require frequent dealings with the public are often linked to high levels of post-holiday stress. Dr. Casas explains that “the intensity of the symptoms and the appearance of clinical symptomatology will be more frequent in people who have a fragility to respond to stress and who have already suffered from anxious-depressive symptoms in response to other stressors”.
Tips to avoid Post-holiday Syndrome
As the specialist points out, “Post-holiday syndrome is a reflection of work-related stress and indicates that something is wrong at work”. Dr. Miquel Casas gives us easy tips that can help us to avoid the Post-holiday Syndrome:
- Plan work tasks properly.
- Have a global vision of all the actions to be carried out and schedule them throughout the day according to the level of energy and mood we have.
- Quickly adapt extra-work activities to the typical routine of the work period.
- Do physical exercise.
In addition, he adds, “it is advisable that during the last days of vacation we join action activities and adapt our schedules to bring them closer to those we will have during work. For example, we can stop taking naps and wake up a little earlier.
If even with this advice, the person is subjected to a high level of psychological and somatic discomfort in his readaptation to active life, having an intense symptomatology or not remitting the symptoms in 2 or 3 days, Dr. Casas advises to seek professional help.