Mondays can be hateful, and after a more or less long period of rest, even more so. Anyone who has not ever experienced the so-called post-vacation syndrome or depression should cast the first stone. It is frequent, but it usually lasts a short time, a couple or three days until the routine is assimilated, this reaction of disenchantment, sadness or anxiety that can mark the return to work.
What is not so common is what could be called pre-vacation syndrome. The weekend arrives and the headaches begin, the Easter holidays begin and a cold appears, or a feeling of stress, disorientation, boredom… “I have enough of the second day of vacation,” says a woman in one of the numerous testimonies on social networks that link rest to discomfort.
Ad Vingerhoets, a Dutch psychologist at the University of Tilburg, coined the term leisure disease, which would not exactly be a pathology but rather an alteration caused by the difficulties that some people have in adapting to changes.
Vingerhoets, author of Why Only Humans Cry?, was always healthy except between Christmas and New Year, a circumstance that led him to undertake an investigation. After almost 2,000 interviews with citizens of the Netherlands aged between 16 and 87, he concluded that 3% may suffer from what he calls leisure disease. Half attributed their discomfort to the transition period between obligations and vacations.
A more in-depth study of 114 patients determined that the most frequent symptoms are headaches and muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, and viral infections that cause cold or flu symptoms.
According to Vingerhoets, the origin may be the prevalence of the mind over the body: the illness is postponed to a time that does not interfere with work. The stress hormones that help us perform at work become unbalanced and leave us exposed to infections. The adrenaline that helps us with stress also strengthens the immune system. In any case, the prevalence is low, despite the proliferation of testimonies, and Vingerhoets syndrome has not yet been established in the medical literature. According to clinical psychologist María Jesús González, it is an alteration in the level of anxiety that has to do with the difficulties of some people in adapting to changes.
“I miss work,” “I get stressed out doing nothing,” “I get bored, I don’t know what to do with my time,” “I’m embarrassed to tell people that I don’t want a vacation because they tell me I’m sick in the head.” ”…In the psychologist’s opinion, these patterns usually correspond to people with a high level of professional self-demand and with specific personality traits: concerned with objectives, perfectionists and, above all, very controlling. “Going on vacation is leaving the square of routine, which is your comfort zone, no matter how stressful it may be,” she said in a conversation on social networks.
“I wouldn’t talk about disease,” says epidemiologist Fernando García Benavides, professor in the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University. “We are not studying it, not because we do not hear about it but because we consider that this discomfort is the result of dissatisfaction, which can be dissatisfaction at work but also with life in general,” he indicates. Changes in pace between work and rest can aggravate or improve the level of dissatisfaction.
For García Benavides, on the one hand we must avoid the medicalization of these symptoms. On the other hand, if they persist, they should not be trivialized: “A sad, tired, anxious person who cannot sleep, irritable, who does not feel like getting up from the field are symptoms of a recognized illness such as depression, and this is serious”.
Leisure illness is not recognized or objectified as a professional illness or accident, meaning it would not be a reason for sick leave or compensation. “From the workplace, this health problem is very difficult to prove. There is a long way to go with other much more obvious psychosocial diseases,” says Laura Ramírez, an occupational doctor.
Psychological problems related to work are more or less relevant depending on the person’s ability to manage the situation. The best option, she says, is to prevent them: “Healthy work environments, good organization of tasks, healthy leadership styles, good communication, fairness, adequate workloads…”. According to García Benavides, workers must feel comfortable, recognized and motivated. “The salary return is important, but many times the recognition from bosses, and also from colleagues, is even more important,” he says.
Introducing moments of leisure progressively into daily life is a good system to prevent breakdown when rest comes, according to specialists.
