Our cure for the post-vacation blues

For many the end of the summer signals a return to work, school and the grind.  August’s summer freedom and warm weather is replaced with September’s back to school and back to work leading to longer stints between vacation days.  According to Cari Nierenberg in a story appearing on MSNBC, if you’ve recently returned home from an end of the summer vacation you might be enjoying more than just the photos from your travels and suffering from a Happiness Hangover, that post-vacation afterglow which wanes quickly upon re-entry into the work world.

Nierenberg explains that the psyche-payoffs wear off within two weeks either directly or gradually after returning from vacation.  For those of us with kids and jobs, I’d say the afterglow is snuffed out within two hours!  Jeroen Nawijn, a tourism researcher at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands who has studied the after-effects of vacations maintains that during vacations people generally experience a greater sense of freedom, less structure, and more socializing. These are often gone immediately once home.

Interestingly, a longer trip will not prolong your post-holiday happiness. According to the studies Nawijn’s completed or researched he says it’s certainly possible that a great 3-day weekend might produce the same two week afterglow as a fantastic 14-day cruise. The key is the quality of the trip and your enjoyment of it.  . “If you had a great vacation, you experience two weeks of afterglow,” Nawijn says.

Additionally, that post-trip afterglow is also very dependent on how the vacation felt and how well life is going in general, says Dr. Gail Saltz, a psychiatrist and TODAY show contributor in Nierenberg’s article. If you’re coming home from vacation to a job, loving family and an environment that makes you happy the return home can also lift your spirits. Saltz also maintains that one’s personality comes into play too. An optimist may hold on to happier feelings longer than the pessimist who may think “it’s over” rather than “it was great”.

“A big feature of vacations is that you’re playing and that’s in sharp contrast to working,” shares Saltz in the article. Her best advice is to integrate some of the elements that worked to nourish the body and soul on vacation into your everyday life.  With a little focused energy and perhaps some candlelight, the romance and intimacy of a luxury inn can be incorporated into one’s life at home where it often takes a lower priority.

Our best advice for the post vacation blues?  Start planning the next one!  As in most of life’s best moments, the anticipation is 75 percent of the fun!