Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and all that spare time in between… they all ended and it is now time to focus back on work. Yet recovering from vacation hangovers isn’t easy!
It is so common that people don’t get enough rest during holidays and actually feel exhausted by the time they should start wearing a suit again. The result is poor professional performance but more importantly higher stress and lesser life quality at work and at home. What is hardly bearable, however, is not inevitable.
Folks, here is how, by adopting just three simple changes in your lifestyle, you can manage your post-vacation challenges:
Less Caffeine, More Water
I know most of us are already addicted to caffeine and can’t help having far too much of it everyday, particularly at work, but this doesn’t change the scientific fact that this habit makes us more anxious.
Imagine your first day or week at work after a vacation. You arrive at the office with a sense of urgency to catch up with what you do for a living after a break. Plus, you are unsure about what awaits you during the next few days when you are just trying to do that.
So, you are already a bit anxious. And if you go on with your regular coffee intake that is not advisable even at other times when you are more at ease, you will be exposing your tense nervous system to more anxiety-inducing molecules. Just don’t do it.
Try replacing some of your coffee-intake with plain water. This magic, essential fluid has more benefits than you might think. It will help open your airways, lower your blood pressure, deliver more oxygen to your cells and eventually enable your mind to better think and reason.
Besides, you will notice significant digestive, muscular and dermatological improvements. It is cheaper, more accessible, and, far more importantly, healthier than coffee/tea or whatever else you are drinking as a stimulant.
Shorter Sits, Longer Walks
One major, common health hazard in office environments is lengthy sits. Five days a week, every week, people just sit at their desks and computers, relentlessly occupied with work or just idle. They do it as if they don’t have a better thing to do for themselves and others. And it is literally killing them!
Scientists are pretty straightforward on risks of sitting too much during the day. It significantly increases your risk of developing possibly fatal conditions such as a heart attack or a stroke or diabetes and hypertension.
Stress and anxiety as a result of extreme inactivity, actually more acute among long-sitters, might even look tolerable when you consider all those other risks. Regardless of what you want to avoid, scientists suggest you take a break from work about every half an hour to walk a bit, stretch your legs and regain your healthy posture.
So, why don’t you place that glass of water you equally need to stay healthy a convenient walk away from your desk so you can double the benefits? Do even better at other times and grab your jacket, coat, whatever… to step outside and breathe some fresh air in while walking and sipping your water. The cold weather won’t be any weaker than coffee as a stimulant, which you will happily discover.
No to Isolation, Yes to Socialization
Finally, the last step to beating post-vacation hangover and gaining further healthy outcomes is to avoid being lonely in your environments.
At work, always keep in mind that your colleagues are possibly going through the same challenges as you do. So, establish a mutually beneficial line of communication and maintain it at all times. No matter what happens at the office and outside in your life, it will be always good to have a supportive peer group.
Colleagues might not always pitch in with the greatest ideas and solutions to overcome the newest obstacle ahead but they sometimes are able to do just that. And even when they can’t, your eyes will at least meet those of your colleagues smiling into yours.
Go ahead and engage other people in friendly conversations. Tell them about your hopes and fears. You might as well start by talking about all the good memories from that last vacation.
In the process, you will hear their stories, too, and discover that they also are human beings and won’t expect you to break your back trying to catch up.