Let’s Free from Post-Vacation Syndrome.

Are you drowsy and powerless? Are you empty-headed and unable to concentrate yourself all day? Are you suffered from indigestion and fever?

Mr. Lee, a director at H-corporation has suffered from powerlessness even a week after taking vacation. Like this, many people are troubled with after-effects of vacation such as fatigue and indigestion even though vacation is supposed to refresh body and mind.

This happens because biorhythm adjusted to vacation life takes time to readjust to regular life. Most company workers take one or two days to be back to pre-vacation condition to some degree and one or two weeks to completely recover from the post-vacation syndromes. However, in some case, such syndromes caused troubles in business because they do not go away for weeks. If such syndromes are left untreated, they might be developed into chronic fatigue and depression.

Especially when weather condition is very abnormal like these days, changing frequently from tycoons to torrential rains and to scorching heat waves and tropical nights, human’s body system that makes body automatically adjust environment is easily broke down. That is why post-vacation syndromes can be deepened.

If you are to avoid post-vacation syndromes, for the last one or two days you should take a rest and try to live as you did before the vacation.

If your vacation is already finished, you should make an effort to adjust your biorhythm to your working life for about a week. You had better avoid drinking at least during the week. If you are already suffered from the syndromes, it will be the second best to avoid drinking at late night.

In order to retrieve your normal physical condition, you need to sleep 7 to 8 hours a day, if possible, at the same o’clock as you did before. But if you still feel tired even after doing that, you may take a nap.

Maximize your ability of refreshment. To do so, you had better eat fresh fruits and vegetables and drink water. Vitamin supplements are also helpful.

Especially if you came back from a foreign country that has at least 3 hours of time difference from here, you are likely suffered from jet lag. Jet leg is more serious when you traveled to regions located in the west direction including Europe and Africa continents. Even though coffee or Soda gives a short help to remove your fatigue, it irritates central nerves and eventually adds your fatigue and disturbs your sleeping.

Take some Melatonin before you sleep if you are troubled with jet lag. The medicine, a hormone secreted from brain during nights, is also called “natural sleeping drug”. Some scientists maintained that Melatonin is helpful for preventing diseases including cancer and heart disease and for enhancing immunity. But that has not yet proven. But its effect on jet lag is widely recognized. It varies how much melatonin should be taken or how powerful its effect is. And side effects like fussiness after wake-up and nightmare may follow.

However, you would rather go to hospital if post-vacation syndromes continued on for more than 2 weeks because that may be a sign of your disease that has been with you but you didn’t notice. (Advisers; Gang Hui-chul, professor of Family Medicine at the Severance Hospital, Choi Hui-jung, professor of Family Medicine at the Eulji University Hospital.

Seong-Ju Lee stein33@donga.com