{"id":42,"date":"2026-03-31T10:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/optimistic-white-bear.167-86-108-143.cpanel.site\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/do-you-become-ill-the-moment-your-holiday-starts-7-tips-to-avoiding-holiday-overwhelm-stress-and-anxiety\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:34:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:34:54","slug":"do-you-become-ill-the-moment-your-holiday-starts-7-tips-to-avoiding-holiday-overwhelm-stress-and-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/do-you-become-ill-the-moment-your-holiday-starts-7-tips-to-avoiding-holiday-overwhelm-stress-and-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you Become Ill the Moment Your Holiday Starts? 7 Tips to Avoiding Holiday Overwhelm, Stress and Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working hard, trying to keep up with life and so looking forward to that well-earned holiday. The destination is planned and booked, flights and hotel await, all that is left is to count the days before leaving. “Oh and of course” do everything before you go so that you don’t have a mountain of work to catch up on, on return.<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

“Isn’t it amazing how much stuff we get done the day before vacation?”— Zig Ziglar<\/span><\/i><\/o_p><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This scenario probably resonates with you – the hamster wheel of life of organising and preparing for a well-deserved break. While rushing around, take a few moments to understand what your body is doing to keep the momentum up in order to finish everything in time. In this kind of circumstance, we likely get up earlier, start work earlier, miss out on our regular gym, swimming, running, or yoga sessions, rush meals, cut as many corners as possible in our personal lives, including meals and regular meal times with the view it doesn’t matter because it can all be sorted when on holiday!<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

What does the “all sorted” refer to? Switch the adrenal system off – in other words allow the body to regulate the sympathetic and para sympathetic nervous system and therefore switch off the flight and flight mode to more rest and digest, that is of course once we have packed, cleaned the house, taken out the rubbish, driven to the airport, gone through security and finally come to the realisation that the holiday that has been on the horizon is finally here in the present moment. The washing cycle that you have been in for the last few weeks has finally finished spinning and come to the end of the cycle. Phew, you heave a sigh of relief and congratulate yourself for getting to this point.<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

When under prolonged duress or stress, <\/span>the body perceives this overdrive as potential danger and initiates the fight and flight response.  On receiving the alarm from the amygdala, (part of the brain) that triggers the release of stress hormones including cortisol to prepare you for the fight or flight mode; dilation of the pupils, blood supply is channelled away from less important bodily functions into the muscles. Your heart rate quickens in response to the sympathetic nervous system kicking into full alert. Glands release a mix of hormones into the bloodstream, especially adrenaline and cortisol.  The heart sends messages to the brain via the Vagus nerve supported by an increase in neurotransmitters. All this before the neocortex has had a chance to identify the nature of the emergency, whether life-threatening, joyful or something in between. <\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

The second phase that occurs within seconds, for want of a better description, is the receipt of information through the senses to the neocortex. As a result, an understanding forms about the situation and the fight or flight impetus is either modified or countermanded. During this time, more complex feelings may take the place of urgency, such as worry and concern at how are you possibly going to complete everything in time. <\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

As consciousness begins to take control the fight or flight reactions will slowly be returned to normal through reversal of the extreme arousal process. This often leads to expressing excess energy amassed seconds earlier through laughter, tears, or a raised voice at someone who is not performing correctly, a driver that is going too slowly, or at you yourself for making a stupid mistake. Normally we would express these pent-up emotions through some form of activity – sport, walking, gardening or talking to friends and family, thus resetting the amygdala’s warning light, but because there is so much to do before going on holiday, the normal way of expression has been parked.<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

When the fight and flight system is in full force, the body utilises energy to sustain us through the difficult period, thus draining necessary energy away from the hormone system, the immune system, the brain as well as the digestive system. Ever got a runny tummy just as you are going on holiday, a horrible cold or even flu-like bug a day or so into the holiday? Perhaps now it all begins to make sense. Whenever we over-draw on one system, we drain another to compensate. In the short term there is little to no impact, it is over prolonged periods that things don’t go well and start to run down other systems as well as overall health.<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

In periods of prolonged duress and stress, what might not be reset is the hypothalamus-adrenal-pituitary (HPA) stress system. Actions of this system, especially the release and reabsorption of cortisol take considerably longer to reset, particularly when the threat is perceived to be overwhelming and\/or chronic.  In this case, instead of the feelings of stress, overwhelm and urgency being overridden, modified or followed through, they become suppressed inside the body as we override the system to get everything done, leading to a crash in our health with a horrible cold, lack of libido, flu, or upset stomach just after or a few days into your well earned holiday. <\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

This is all very well, I can hear you saying, but in order to go on holiday I need to be sure everything is in order for those covering and for when I get back. In other words, you are convincing yourself that this is the price you pay for having a holiday!  In that case perhaps it’s better not to have a holiday? Below are some suggestions on how to manage the workload and be able to go on holiday without pre-holiday overwhelm, stress and anxiety leading to that temporary crash affecting your holiday down-time taking away from the enjoyment:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plan your workload (in as much as you can) to take on extra tasks over the full month before your break so that there is not a last-minute overload.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Write everything down that has to be done before your holiday. Cross items off the list as you go. This is motivating and helps your brain to rationalise about what is still to be done, thus avoiding feelings of overwhelm.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Re-schedule meetings that can be re-scheduled or delegate to a colleague.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Get <\/span>up one hour earlier to take your “me” time and to do your exercise, in this way you manage the additional workload in a less stressed manner.<\/li>\n
  5. Avoid eating foods that put additional stress on the brain, especially wheat and gluten containing foods, sugary foods and foods laden with preservatives and additives as these slow the brain and in some people may lead to brain fogginess, burden the digestive system, providing little or no nutritious content to provide the energy you need.<\/li>\n
  6. Keep yourself hydrated – drink at least 1.5 litres of water daily. This will help keep your brain alert and your body active.<\/li>\n
  7. As you close the suitcase and load it into the car, realise that what has not been done, will have to wait. If it is important, call someone who can take care of it for you.  Do not fret and worry about what you should have done but didn’t do. This is no longer within your control.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Finally, the best thing you can do for your body and mind is to completely switch off from all work-related issues and enjoy yourself. Remember, you have earned and deserve this “me” time.<\/o_p><\/span><\/p>\n

    “A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.”—Earl Wilson.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Working hard, trying to keep up with life and so looking forward to that well-earned holiday. The destination is planned and booked, flights and hotel await, all that is left is to count the days before leaving. “Oh and of course” do everything before you go so that you don’t have a mountain of work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,19],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-wellbeing","category-resilience","category-stress-management","tag-workplace-wellbeing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}