Why you get sick on vacation
Send me away for a day on vacation and I have an ulcer. On day two there are two and after a week my mouth is full of blisters. Every word I say hurts and the only fun thing I can think of is that at least I won't gain weight, because every bite is a tearful affair.
Christmas, also something like that. You’ve worked your teeth to the bone to get everything done and look forward to a week lying horizontally on the couch, interspersed with drinking Amarone wine (did you know that people with a high IQ prefer to drink wine?) and turning Tête de Moine cheese, but instead you’re lying under three blankets shivering from the fever. Why do we suffer from the reverse Kortjakje syndrome? Because we get sick on Sunday.
1. Your stress hormones chase the illness away
When you work hard and are under tension, you produce cortisol and adrenaline. This keeps your body in a state of high alert and pathogens have no chance to strike. They lurk around the corner of the fence and make their move when cortisol and adrenaline have left through the back door.
2. Too quick a transition from work to rest
A horse also lets you step out for a moment and when you’ve exercised, you also do a cool down. You should do that in your working life too. Schedule two winding down days or at least don’t go on vacation the very next day. Then you’ve built up twice as much stress (because finishing work and then packing your suitcase and traveling) and the balance in your body is completely disturbed. When you work hard, the body keeps all bodily functions in balance. When the tension disappears, your body also needs to physically regain that balance.
3. Your body tricked you
When you pump a lot of adrenaline, you can be immune to certain signals. Maybe you recognize it from when you danced in a performance and only later realized you had a terrible blister. Or that you don’t notice how cold your feet really are while skating. The adrenaline masks the symptoms. The ailment was definitely there, but you didn’t ‘read’ it. When the adrenaline wears off, you only then feel how bad off you were.
4. The different schedule
On vacation you sleep more, eat differently, and probably consume alcoholic units more often. During vacations, there is even a peak in the number of heart attacks.
5. Maybe it’s just because of this
For some people, it’s difficult to fill the day without the structure of work. You don’t know what to do with yourself and suddenly all sorts of things demand attention (family, friends) that you actually don’t feel like dealing with but now have no excuse for. Then there’s only one thing left to do. Work.
