Effective rest - 15 rules

What causes us to fail to recover on vacation?

If during the remaining weeks of the year we do not get enough sleep almost every day, we work after hours and in chronic stress, then even a two-week vacation may not bring us back to full activity. It will be insufficient for psychophysical recovery. Unfortunately, very often just before the holiday we mobilize ourselves to the maximum to act and work at the so-called 150%, trying to do as much work as possible.

The consequence of this is fatigue: as soon as the desired vacation finally begins, the body is so exhausted that it has to recover. Hence, precisely in the first days off from work, many people have symptoms similar to colds, problems with the digestive system, difficulty sleeping, migraines, neuralgia.

The body needs timeto calm down and for stress hormones to drop. If we start our long-awaited vacation from illness, then, of course, our frustration increases. Especially if the vacation was a huge financial expense for us and we know that we will not soon afford another one.

We differ in mental and physical resilience, and we also show different tolerance for sleep deprivation, pressure, work in poor physical or mental conditions. So we need a different dose and type of rest to recharge our batteries. How to do it?

How to regain strength on vacation?

1. Don't treat your vacation as another target. to do: seeing more beautiful places, monuments or beaches will not translate into more regeneration, and usually the opposite! The constant rush, pressure, tight schedule and focus on the execution of the plan will be exactly what you have at work and what you want to get away from after all.
2. Ponder, with whom you want to spend the long-awaited vacation. Traveling with others requires constant compromises both at the stage of choosing the direction of departure and accommodation, as well as determining daily holiday activities. If you are not assertive enough, do not know how to set boundaries or openly communicate what you want and what you do not want, then such a trip instead of relaxation will bring you frustration, dissatisfaction and even conflicts! You will come back even more tired than you left... Sometimes a joint trip with friends ends in a break in relations. Just because we have a great time with someone during a few hours of meetings does not necessarily mean that we will feel equally good spending as many as a few days together.
3. Talk honestly with your partner, children or friends, what each of you cares about the most. Plan your trip so that everyone can meet at least some of their needs and have space just for themselves, at least an hour a day. Many hotels offer different types of animation for children and adults, as everyone has different needs.
4. Avoid accumulating tasks before vacation. Many people get sick in the first days of arrival. As the doctor explained to me, most often we get sick at the beginning of the holiday, because before the vacation we overloaded the body and psyche by working beyond measure.
5. Length of leaveThe way you really recover is individual. For some, it will be more optimal to use more vacations, and shorter ones - and not only trips, but also additional days off spent at home. Others need at least 2 weeks to rest and mentally disconnect from everyday life.
6. Eat healthy and in moderation. Are large amounts of alcohol, sweets, highly processed foods and random snacks really something that will allow you to recover? Returning after vacation with “excess baggage” in the form of extra pounds is unlikely to have a beneficial effect on your self-esteem and well-being
7. Do not be guided by the current fashion neither in terms of holiday destination nor types of activities. We have very different needs and tastes. What gives someone an “energy kick” will not necessarily appeal to you.
8. Before you start planning your vacation, think about what helps you relax the best. Is it contact with nature, meetings with people, active leisure? Or maybe aesthetic sensations, communication with culture and art? Do you recharge your batteries more effectively through activities that provide a lot of adrenaline or do you rather want to calm down? Listen to your own needs. Think about whether you need new sensations more at this moment, or maybe you prefer to go to a proven place.
9. Take your vacation regularly Many people have a few dozen days of overdue vacation: learn to take advantage of this privilege and plan a cyclical rest.
10. anymore Planning a vacation itself can be exciting and allows you to move your imagination's eyes to wonderful places before you set foot there. Helpful in planning your trip are travel blogs written by people with the knowledge and passion that you can feel with each subsequent verse. They contain tons of practical tips and inspirations to make traveling easier.
11. Focus on your sensations, and not to spend your vacation in an expensive hotel in a prestigious resort or engage in fashionable sports. Spending more money does not translate into a better rest. You can find out more about this in my article Buy sensations, not objects.
12. Limit the use of media and the Internet. Some people rest best when they take care of themselves digital reset, that is, complete disconnection from social media, news services, various types of portals or instant messengers.
13. An indispensable factor for the proper functioning of the body and psyche is adequate sleep. It is not for nothing that chronic sleep deficiency is one of the most debilitating tortures. Instead of filling up to the maximum every day of vacation, ensure yourself a long enough sleep. For most people, this is about 8 hours a day. Treat yourself to getting some sleep during your vacation, even if it means less partying or sightseeing.
14. Give yourself time to switch to holiday mode. The first days of vacation require the body to adapt to the new functioning and environment - especially if we also change the climatic and time zone. And if our journey was long and, in addition, it was accompanied by anxiety, for example, by a long delay, then the stress hormones will not drop immediately at the moment of getting to the destination. Do not expect to feel a surge of energy already at the beginning of the holiday. Some people admit that the first week of vacation only allows them to rest physically. However, they have not yet shut down from work. They have a lot of thoughts in their heads and fears about whether there will be any problems in the company during the vacation.
15. Be prepared for any weather. The more meticulously you plan and focus only on ideal conditions, the more frustrated you may feel when the aura does not add up and you have to give up some of the plans, for example, mountain trips when it rains heavily. Before you leave, make a plan B - think about what you can do when the weather turns bad. I always take an ebook reader with me and I upload audiobooks to my cell phone, so I have interesting readings at hand. For this, it will be useful to have access to a database of great ebooks and it is worth taking advantage of Legimi offers from MultiLife. I also check out what museums, art galleries or other attractions I can visit, which can be enjoyed regardless of the weather.

Or maybe a lonely holiday?

The motivation for traveling alone can be so as not to have to fit in with the family or friends. Especially when, taking into account needs, temperament or interests, they do not have in their immediate circle people with similar preferences.

Traveling alone allows better know your strengths and weaknesses. Check in real situations your skills, emotions and way of acting. helps break self-limiting beliefs and strengthen the sense of agency, that is, influence on one's own life. Believe in your own effectiveness and resourcefulness. And there are They are the foundation of a stable sense of self worth.. This is especially valuable in the case of people with low self-esteem and who tend to catastrophize, that is, to assume a worst-case scenario in advance.

Facing difficult situations strengthens mental immunity. It forces greater flexibility and going beyond your comfort zone. This helps in personal development and building a stable self-esteem — based on Realistic perception of oneself.

Traveling alone opens up to getting to know yourself better.

To benefit from solo travel, it doesn't have to be a trip to the other side of the world. For some, the challenge, accompanied by enormous stress and uncertainty, can be even a solo trip to another city.

However, I advise against traveling alone to those who do not really have the slightest desire for it, and are guided only by fashion. On travel blogs or social media profiles, many famous and unknown people boast that they are traveling alone. However, we have different needs and What else makes us happy.

The need to make decisions on their own and accept positive and negative consequences - without dumping them on someone else - helps reduce anxiety before accepting responsibility for your own choices and before making a mistake. Especially for people with a so-called dependent personality, this is a huge challenge.