Returning to work after vacation can generate emotional and functional difficulties. The discomfort of returning to work is frequently accompanied by melancholy, longing for vacation, and difficulty resuming the usual pace. This reality sometimes generates guilt and incomprehension about the difficulty of getting back to "business as usual."
From a neurophysiological perspective, humans function better with predictability, habits, and automated processes. During vacation, habits of sleep, eating, and physical activity change, which can generate restlessness in performance-oriented people. Upon return, the opposite happens: rigid schedules return, along with responsibilities and task pressure, requiring an adjustment period with possible concentration difficulties and emotional instability.
Vacation constitutes a programmed discontinuity in routines, and during that period, the automated patterns of daily life disappear, replaced by more decisions and novelty, which can be simultaneously pleasant and exhausting. The article suggests that the "problem" stems more from the work-vacation-work transition than from the situations themselves, and proposes practical suggestions such as preparing for the return in advance, accepting lower effectiveness during the first week, avoiding overloaded schedules on the first day, and maintaining self-care practices.
The article also warns about the phenomenon of "existential apnea," in which people only live for vacation and weekends, enduring the rest of the time as a penance. This negative perspective on work can have corrosive effects on the engagement of individuals and teams, with relevant implications for physical and psychological health.
