"Recovery cannot be saved"

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The vacation is over, you are back at your desk. What can be saved from vacation to everyday life? How can you benefit from the break for as long as possible? In the interview, vacation researcher Dr. Gerhard Blasche * Tips for a relaxed return to work.

Dr. Gerhard Blasche

Dr. Gerhard Blasche is an assistant professor at the Medical University of Vienna in the Institute for Environmental Hygiene at the Center for Public Health and runs a psychological-psychotherapeutic practice in Vienna.

Dr. Blasche, just on the beach, now back in the office - why is it so difficult for most people to come back?

Many have weaned themselves off from everyday work on vacation. They had time to relax and do what they wanted. Unfortunately, a lot is different in everyday life. From the outside, there are many demands on holiday returnees, which they completely hog. We found out in a study that people fresh from vacation are more prone to stress. Most of them therefore need a few days to find their way in the hectic world of work.

How can you prevent the transition from vacation to work from being too abrupt?

The best thing to do is to treat yourself to a day or two at home before going back to work. In this way you get used to the different climate, the different time zone or the different lifestyle. It is best to do annoying things like washing clothes right away and do not drag them with you into the first week at work. It is very important that you do not undertake too much in the first few days on the job. You don't have to take care of everything that has accumulated on your desk. Otherwise the recovery effect will be gone again.

Can't we just save the vacation relaxation?

That would be nice, but unfortunately it doesn't work. You can compare this to being well rested: When you've got enough sleep, you feel very good. But that doesn't mean you won't need sleep for the next few days - it can't be saved. It's the same with relaxation on vacation.

Then the holiday feeling is limited - how can it be saved for as long as possible?

You can take the serenity with you from vacation and integrate it into everyday life. Pay close attention to your relaxation at home, take time for yourself. And take breaks from work. Because ultimately your performance depends on these. Incidentally, physical fitness also intensifies the holiday effect. There is some evidence that recovery lasts longer if you have been physically active while on vacation. This will promote your cardiovascular function and you will be more stress-resistant when you return to everyday work.

Not everyone wants to do gymnastics on vacation, some prefer to lie on the beach.

And that's a good thing, because everyone feels something different to be relaxing. One prefers to read books, the other scrambles around on Bergers. You should take this into account when planning your vacation, especially when vacationing with the family. You don't always have to do everything together. The happier the individual is on vacation, the greater the recovery effect for everyone.

According to surveys, however, the family is also a major stress factor on vacation.

During the vacation you spend more time together - of course, different interests can crash into each other. While one might like to plan precisely, the other would prefer to live into the day. That is possible explosive. But it can also be completely different: the experiences together can strengthen the partnership, for example. These are the things that you like to remember in everyday life.

After the vacation is before the vacation - how important is it to look forward to the next break?

It is at least as important as the memory of the beach or the mountains. The anticipation has a positive effect on the mood and lifts the mood. In general, I think it makes sense to treat yourself to several short vacations a year.

But it is said that you should take a vacation for at least two weeks at a time, otherwise you will hardly recover. Is that not correct?

The greatest recovery occurs in the first few days of your vacation. There are no reliable studies on how long one should go on vacation. My personal recommendation is about ten days of vacation at a time. This gives you enough time to really go on holiday and get back to everyday life. The most important prerequisite for a good recovery effect is that you can switch off while on vacation and not constantly read e-mails for your job, surf the Internet or press your smartphone to your ear.

Thanks to the new media, that's a real challenge.

Exactly. You need to be able to distance yourself from your work while on vacation. Because if you keep thinking about your job, dealing with the problems there, then you keep your stress level high. However, falling stress levels are a prerequisite for good recovery. So switch off when you are on vacation - including your cell phone.

Dr. Blasche, thank you for the interview.

The interview was conducted by editor Luise Heine

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