Vacations Make Me Sick
Yes, you read that title correctly. Vacations make me sick. No matter how short the trip, how relaxing the trip, or how easy the trip was I come home feeling ill. I thought I was a weirdo and this was some strange phenomenon I have been imagining all these years. That was until I took a relaxing trip with my husband this weekend. We left the kids with the grandparents and took off for two whole days. When I say we never get to take trips like this, I mean it….WE NEVER TAKE TRIPS LIKE THIS. Every plan we have made thus far has been a plan involving our kids. I was looking forward to spending time with my husband, without the kids, and hanging out with friends.
I prepared as much as I could over the course of a week so that I still had energy for the trip. I packed everything I could to make sure I was comfortable and taken care of while away. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (among other health issues) so I have to take extra care to avoid causing myself more harm. No matter how much I had planned, I still came home feeling ill.
Our weekend adventure happened to be a very nice trip. I relaxed for an entire day, which is not something I get to do at home. We hung out with friends, telling stories and recalling old times. We ate our fill of good foods. We snuggled by a warm campfire in the evening. Not one of these activities should have caused me to over stress my body to the point of getting ill. Yet, here I am, home for one day and covered in a blanket with one heating pad across my shoulders and another on my head. Outside, it is 81 degrees and I am back and forth between sweating and shivering. My throat is sore, my nose is stuffy, I have a cough, my neck and head hurt, and my face feels puffy.
What the heck!
Boredom mixed with a bit of curiosity, led me on a google search involving vacations and cold symptoms. I never thought I would find anything linking the two subjects, but there is an actual relationship between these two subjects. After browsing a few websites related to this topic, I feel a better knowing I am not imagining my symptoms. I thought I was the only one consistently getting sick from traveling.
There are many suggestions as to why travelers become ill at the end of a trip. Germs are, of course, the biggest reason people become ill after a vacation. You wash your hands and take precautions to keep germs at bay, and yet, you still find yourself becoming ill? Well, there are other causes for sickness after vacations. Overindulgence, low humidity in planes, exhaustion, temperature changes, and even something called leisure sickness are all culprits for post-vacation sickness.
Breaking this down….
Overindulgence could include food, alcohol, or even having too much fun (aka- not enough sleep). Food can throw your body off if you are eating differently than what you are used to. Either by eating too much or by not eating enough. Keeping your diet similar to your everyday routine is recommended while vacationing. This helps to keep your immune system in order. Along with foods, alcohol is another way to trip up your body’s regular functions. Alcohol dehydrates your body. Dehydration causes a drop in your immune system. This drop causes whatever germ your body was combating, to get the upper hand. Not getting enough sleep, even if you are relaxing the entire trip, will also cause a decline in the functioning of your immune system. Preparations before the trip, the actual trip (driving or flying, etc.), and vacation activities = traveling is tiresome….then you get to travel home and unpack! The entire vacation, while fun, becomes exhausting and exhaustion leads to illness.
Flying is often associated with sickness. Flying can cause illness, but the illness is actually caused by low humidity in the cabin and not the small space everyone shares. The low humidity during the flight causes your body to dehydrate, which in turn causes your throat and nasal passages to dry out. Dry nasal passages and a dry throat can cause your body to struggle in fighting off germs. You could unknowingly be battling a cold, take a flight somewhere, and loose the battle to the cold due to the dry out caused by the low humidity. It’s not just the recycled air shared within the small cabin space!
Temperature changes can cause illness. Leaving the cold winter climate and traveling to somewhere warm and sunny causes confusion to your body. This confusion causes your immune system to weaken. Which, as you know, makes fighting off viruses harder for your body. Taking care of yourself is the best way to keep viruses under control during this change.
Leisure sickness was something I stumbled upon during my google search. This sickness is said to cause many symptoms, ranging from headaches to depression, and is said to affect 3% of the population. Leisure sickness is not only associated with vacationing, but weekends and retirement as well. A person, busy with work days, becoming ill while resting on the weekend could be associated with leisure sickness. Now, I am not saying you have leisure sickness because you are tired on the weekends, but if you feel ill every weekend, maybe you should speak to a doctor about the possibility of having leisure sickness.
What have I learned from my recent google search? Take care of yourself. Do not overindulge on poor food choices or alcohol. Get enough sleep and do not become overly exhausted. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Do not forget to wash your hands and take care to not touch your mouth/ face with soiled hands. Basically, relax and enjoy your vacation but make sure to take care of yourself while chilling out.
