Doctor explains why you feel completely exhausted again right after the vacation

Vacation is and remains a bit of a strange thing. You look forward to it for weeks, you enjoy it to the fullest and then you come home… BAM. Everything is just as it was.

Here I am again
You don't feel a bit more rested than before you went. You just lost your savings on plane tickets and nice hotels on the Italian coast. Of course, the memories are forever and you are incredibly happy with them, but why does it seem like you are just as tired, after a few weeks of being free, as soon as you open that laptop again? After a few weeks romantic of sun, beach, and reading books? Does vacation actually not help at all?

Back in the rhythm
A doctor explains it. Doctor Jan-Pieter de Mönnink from the Ruysdael Sleep Clinic: ‘It is a common problem, more than half of people experience some sort of post-vacation dip.’ You can't really do much about it, because it all happens in your brain, without you realizing it. It has to do with substances in our brains, the so-called happiness hormones endorphin, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. ‘By resting, exercising, and relaxing during your vacation, you get more of those hormones,’ De Mönnink explains. ‘But as soon as you come back and pick up the rhythm of everyday life , those hormones break down again. And it may well be that you sleep worse because of that.’ It also happens because we all, once we are back in our own home, immediately feel we have to do a lot. That to-do list has piled up during your vacation: doing laundry, answering emails, picking up the household… Your rest is immediately over after that flight back and that causes you stress again: maybe even more than you had before you left for La Playa.

Nice then. You can book as many vacations as you want, you just can't seem to get fitter. But luckily we have the memories of that warm beach bed still, right. And what you should especially do: take a few days off after that big summer vacation. Just the idea that you have that in sight works wonders for your mood.

Source: Omroep Brabant