Fatigue, apathy, difficulty concentrating, and non-restorative sleep. Diana Arias, psychologist collaborating with Respira Project, describes the set of symptoms that appears when returning from vacation: “It has no clinical entity; it is not a disorder nor a disease.” It is popularly known as post-vacation syndrome, although the name sounds more serious than it actually is.
The symptoms have a fairly logical explanation. After a period of enjoyment, of flexible schedules, fun and stimulating plans, of time shared with loved ones, of time devoted to oneself, feeling sadness and nostalgia when that ends is something normal and to be expected, explains Arias. Returning to the routine implies stricter schedules, obligations, interacting with people you did not choose, and, almost always, less time devoted to rest and self-care.
The adaptation period varies quite a bit from one person to another. “It’s normal that we need a few days, between 2 and 10, to adapt again to early mornings, to the schedules set by work, schools, family and home obligations,” notes Arias. There are those who barely notice the change, others who already feel that discomfort in the days before the return and begin to manage it earlier, and those who have a harder time the more difficult it is to adapt to any change in general.
For the brain, any change is perturbing, even the one that seems desirable. “Even the change from routine to vacation is uncomfortable for our nervous system. The difference is that having time for activities we enjoy, for resting, makes that discomfort pass more easily. That our nervous system regulates and returns to calm more easily,” explains Arias.
How to Facilitate Adaptation
Organizing routine matters before the first day is one of the strategies Arias most recommends. “Think about and organize routine matters in the days preceding, delay the return by a couple of days so that the changes are gradual, not abrupt,” she explains. The abrupt change from one day to the next is what costs the nervous system the most; distributing it over several days softens that transition.
Maintaining plans for leisure, self-care and rest should not be something that is recovered only after the holidays. “Keep moments and plans for leisure with friends, self-care, rest, sports activities and time in nature, not only after the holidays, but maintain them and integrate them into the routine,” Arias notes. The key is to sustain the balance between obligations and what takes care of you, with consistency, not just in the first days of September.
When the discomfort goes beyond what is expected
If the discomfort lasts much longer than usual, it is worth looking further back, even before the holidays. “Feeling apathy, sadness, anxiety or irritability about returning to a situation that had already caused discomfort is even adaptive,” explains Arias. Rest and disconnection can make more visible a distress that already existed: with work, with the city in which you live, with a relationship or with the absence of something important in daily life.
“After a period of rest, enjoyment and connection, the distress that being in that job, living in that city, being in that relationship or not including in your daily life this or that activity can become more evident,” summarizes Arias. In those cases, the problem is not the return itself, but what you return to.
When that feeling persists week after week and does not ease with the passage of days, Arias recommends seeking professional help. A psychologist can help identify what lies behind that discomfort and manage what it entails, something very different from waiting for post-vacation syndrome to resolve on its own with the passage of time.
