I GOT THE POST-VACATION BLUES

Tips to avoid post-vacation blues.

WRITER: SUSIE YAKOWICZ

Vacationing isn’t just fun—it’s a good way to refresh yourself, relieve stress, and bond with friends and family. But it does have a downside: coming home.

Many vacationers experience post-vacation blues—a mood characterized by sadness, fatigue, and a lack of motivation to get back on schedule. While post-vacation blues don’t last long, they can make coming home anything but smooth sailing.

Fortunately, there are ways to transition back to a routine swiftly and effectively. Follow these tips, and make your return home something you won’t dread.

Prepare for your return in advance. Before you go on vacation, get yourself organized for your return home. Wrap up business in advance of leaving. Clean and organize the house so there’s no extra work to face when the trip is over. A little pre-departure preparation gives you peace of mind while on vacation and less stress when you return home.

Get rest. While vacations are meant to be restful, traveling and sightseeing often make them just the opposite. Coming home and feeling tired can ruin your mood even more. Make a point to get plenty of rest when you return. Go to bed early, and enjoy some quiet time in the evenings. Resting is good for the body and mind and boosts motivation.

Relive your vacation. If you took pictures on your trip, share them with friends and family or at least talk with others about your adventures. This will improve your mood and make you appreciate the fun you had for what it was—a vacation. If you learned a new skill or participated in an activity you can’t do at home, revisiting that event can also bring joy.

Stay busy. Your mind adjusts more quickly to routine if you have things to do. Focus on being productive to help thoughts shift to the present. Make a to-do list and concentrate on checking things off. With a busy schedule, there’s no time for post-vacation blues. In fact, you’ll likely find contentment and comfort in the familiarity of “life as usual.”

Plan something fun for your return. Coming home doesn’t have to mean the fun is over. Is there a movie you want to see or a new restaurant to try? Plug it into your schedule. Breaking up routine with a little fun can lift spirits and get you back into the swing of things. You might even decide to plan your next vacation.

Going on vacation is a great way to unwind and have fun. But don’t let coming home from a trip get you down. The above tips will help you readjust to your regular routine in no time—and keep you inspired while awaiting your next getaway.

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When technology outstrips biology

Technology has advanced beyond our biological ability to adapt. However, our technological age has fed us several lies that, if not recognized and dealt with, may negatively impact our health—both individually and as a nation. We ignore these at our collective peril. Here are a few lies brought to you by modern technology. You may have a few more of your own

Humans are natural multi-taskers

Research shows that our brains are really not capable of doing two or more tasks simultaneously. Many tasks need to use the same area of the brain. Think of two people trying to type different reports on the same keyboard. Doesn’t work so well, does it? What we can do is jump back and forth rapidly from task to task. This leads some people to take on too much at one time. Some degree of this is inevitable in modern life. The trick is to balance abilities to the number of tasks. To do otherwise is a sure path to frustration, stress, and poor quality work. Rather than focusing on multi-tasking, learn to prioritize tasks, organize the work/home space for maximal efficiency, and learn when to say no to another task.

Virtual reality will make such things as travel and other real-life experiences unnecessary

I have never put on virtual reality glasses, but I don’t need to in order to feel confident making this claim. Multiple generations of writers, philosophers, and naturalists attested to the healing nature of, well, nature itself. Countless people head to the wilds seeking, and finding, healing themselves. When people wonder why they should care about the loss of coral reefs in Australia, the rain forests in the Amazon, ancient woods of our continent, or habitat encroachment with endangerment species such as panthers, black bears, and manatees, I answer two ways. One, when these are gone, they are gone. Two, if we have learned anything about our planet it is how interconnected the ecosystems are. We need to get away from human environments periodically and experience nature—real nature—on its terms. Go outside and take a walk, watch a sunset, turn over some dirt and plant something. Get dirty and sweaty.

Former president Ronald Reagan, speaking from his California ranch, said it very well, “There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.”

Technology allows you to control your day

Our bodies have a natural, internal clock. Ideally, we are awake during the day and sleep at night. For most adults, seven to eight hours of sleep per night is necessary for optimal health and function. However, the technological age makes it possible to work around the clock. Many jobs involve working shifts that alter the day/night cycle. While we can adapt to an altered sleep schedule, this takes time and should not be constantly changing, e.g. people whose shift hours change weekly or even monthly may find they have extreme fatigue and eventually, health problems.

Technology has improved food production and delivery

Perhaps more than anything else, technology has changed how we eat. Our diets largely come from factory farming and large agribusinesses because they provide large quantities of food cheaply. Most foods in grocery stores are prepared from processed ingredients and tend to be high in sugar, salt, and/or unhealthy fats. They might even contain flavorings, preservatives, stabilizers, and other chemicals not intended for human consumption. One consequence of this is an epidemic of obesity and chronic illnesses more prevalent in the past couple of generations. Another is the loss of the traditional family meal around the dining table. No wonder there is a growing movement back to fresh, locally sourced foods. Learn to cook some simple, healthy meals. I always fall back on Michael Pollan’s simple advice: eat food, mostly plants, not too much.

Everyone should be accessible all the time

No one needs to be available 24/7. Even doctors get “coverage” for themselves in order to have real down time from professional responsibilities. Turn off your cell phone and avoid email for a weekend. I promise you the earth will continue its orbit around the sun, the world will not go to “hell in a handbasket,” and family and friends can do without you a couple of days. Everyone needs to go “off the grid” now and then.

You cannot have too much information

This is perhaps the biggest lie of all. We are bombarded daily with information, most of it trivial and much of it wrong. Take medicine, for example. The old paradigm had new medical information reported in journals where it was reviewed by doctors for accuracy, critiqued study protocols, verified it with further studies, and, finally made it public and applicable to patients. The new paradigm has new treatments, products, and procedures promoted in media and advertising before being properly studied and the efficacy and safety verified. Procedures are promoted by those who want to be the “first on the block” to offer the newest and latest, without regard to actual science. The internet promoted more quackery in one year than all the snake oil salesmen who ever lived. I take everything I read on the internet with a healthy dose of skepticism, unless I am confident of the source.

Technology has improved communication

This is true only if you believe that real communication consists of tweets, texts, tags, and emails. With digital communication, we lose inflection, voice tone, emphasis, emotion (and, no, emoticons don’t count), facial expression, and body language. Often these convey more information than what we actually say.

No, I am not a Luddite. I have a cell phone, computer, wireless, and so on. Technology makes some aspects of my life better, but it also has made things more complicated and stressful. The secret is to stay mindful. Use it where it helps, eliminate it where it hurts.