Cure yourself of Leisure Sickness

You haven’t had a day off sick for 5 years, it’s Friday afternoon and you’re working your socks off trying to get everything finished before you leave for a well-earned holiday. Come Saturday morning you wake up with a bad case of the flu, not sure how on earth you’ll cope with just getting out of bed let alone making your way to the airport to board the plane.If this sounds familiar you may have been hit by an acute case of Leisure Sickness.

I didn’t know it had a name until I read an article about Leisure Sickness in The Guardian this morning, but I am all too aware of its existence. I never had any problems when on holiday, but I used to suffer something chronic from Leisure Sickness almost every single weekend. I would wake up Saturday morning either with a cold or feeling like I had the flu. This would continue into Sunday, but Monday morning like magic I’d be OK again – tired but the cold/flu would be gone.

Professor Ad Vingerhoets was the first to use the term Leisure Sickness to describe how some of us get ill the minute we stop working either when off for the weekend or when on holiday. According to a study by the professor, Leisure Sickness is, not surprisingly, caused by work-related stress.

Study or no study, I was fully aware that my runny nose was caused by stress and although I didn’t know what it was called at the time, it was very obvious what I needed to change to cure myself of Leisure Sickness.

So here are a few of the changes I made, in the hope it may help someone else reclaim their weekends and holidays:

• Changed my job attitude. I’ve become very choosy about my clients and employers. It’s always been important that I enjoyed my work, but even more so now. I’ve also become a lot stricter with the hours I work. Long hours are necessary at times, but I don’t believe in “seen to be there” and clocking up the hours. I believe in working efficiently and professionally and in getting the work done.
• Learned when to stop. I used to have a long commute by train to and from work. I would make myself put any work-related papers away at least three stops before the station I would get off. This made it easier not to think about work by the time I stepped through my front door.
• Broke the routine. On evenings when I was particularly tired, I would try to do something different to break the work, eat, sleep routine. Sometimes a walk would help, other times it would be a board game or watering the garden.
• Found pleasure in small things. Feel free to laugh, but weeding my garden is the number one stress-reliever for me. It is not something I look forward to doing, but once I’m out there I get such pleasure from pulling weed after weed and gradually clearing an area.
• Changed my diet. I had the bad habit of usually eating my lunch in front of the computer. I practically lived on bad sandwiches, chocolate bars, crisps and litres of Coke. Dinner would usually be whichever dish we could cook the fastest. So come weekend I was constantly tired from lack of proper food. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was also suffering withdrawal symptoms from all the caffeine in the Coke. Now I make sure I take at least half an hour away from the computer for lunch and dinner has become far more balanced.
• Joined a walking club. I found it hard to drag myself out of bed over the weekend, but the walking energized me. I’m no longer a member of the club, but still go walking frequently over the weekend.
• Researched holiday destinations. Nothing invigorates me more than researching all the exciting places I could visit. It doesn’t have to be far-flung places, sometimes a weekend break in a nearby town can be just as exciting.

All of the above and then some helped me get rid of my Leisure Sickness. Feel free to share any remedy you have used to combat it, and most importantly have a wonderful holiday free from Leisure Sickness, wherever you may be heading.

Technorati Tags: travel, leisure sickness

5 Responses to “Cure yourself of Leisure Sickness”

1. Lyrical Lemongrass says:

   1 August, 2007 at 2:47

   So that’s what I’ve been suffering from! hehe. This is a very useful article. I’m going to share it with my friends. Often enough, we tend to forget that life exists, and work takes centrestage in everything we do. Thanks for the timely reminder!!

   Reply
2. Anni Poulsen says:

   1 August, 2007 at 8:11

   My pleasure, but you mean to say, you actually work between all those lovely lunches and dinners you write about?

   You’re right, it is hard to get the right balance – we can but try though. How many days till the weekend again? Anyway enjoy your week!

   Reply
3. Lyrical Lemongrass says:

   2 August, 2007 at 3:08

   LOL Annie! Sadly, I have to work hard to be able to afford to fill my stomach with all those lovely lunches and dinners. Thankfully, food in Malaysia is pretty affordable! (Visit Malaysia plug )

   Weekend’s almost here (well, closer for me than for you…GMT+8 in Malaysia). I’ve already started planning for my weekend, starting at 7.00am right till midnight! Bad LL, Bad LL!!

   Reply
4. Lyrical Lemongrass says:

   2 August, 2007 at 3:10

   Sorry…wrong spelling….ANNI. *slapping my wrist*

   Reply
5. Anni Poulsen says:

   2 August, 2007 at 10:26

   Malaysia is very high on the list, trust me, problem is, once I’m in that part of the world, I’ll need at least a year off to visit all the places I want to see.
   Oh, and the weekend might be closer for you, but Monday is a bank holiday here so we get an extra day – so there :p – oops that is not till the end of the month – that’ll teach me!

   Reply