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The post-holiday depression
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Around March or April, with the winter holiday still fresh in mind, many office workers start to long for the summer holiday. It will give them a chance to recharge their depleted “batteries" and get ready to head back into the fray. At least, that is what people assume…
However, the fact that people’s energy levels are so low is caused by everyday stressors and behaviour. Once people come back from their holidays, they immediately feel that their day-to-day lives are still just as stressful and tiring as before. Although they feel refreshed after their holiday, that feeling does not last long. The realisation that the next holiday is still months away is a hard pill to swallow.
The “batteries" We can feel cognitively, emotionally and physically depleted. In order to recharge ourselves, we are often advised to go on holiday, take up a hobby, exercise, hang out with friends and family, take some rest or eat healthier. Which one of these methods is most effective?
Following severe stressors or stimuli, recovery takes place if there is psychological detachment. Futurologist Alex Soojung-Kim Pang suggests that the methods of relaxation that are most effective for recharging yourself are not the passive forms of relaxation, but rather the physically and mentally challenging forms. Exercising after work or taking up a creative hobby turn out to be excellent ways to unwind. Watching Netflix, lounging on the sofa and browsing the Internet are less effective methods of unwinding, because the brain is insufficiently stimulated to detach from the familiar stimuli.
De Bloom et al. (2017) researched the connections between people’s leisure activity profiles on the one hand and their recovery experiences and performance at work on the other. They found that, over a one-year period, people could be grouped with relative stability into one of four distinct leisure activity profiles, which vary in both intensity and variation, and that