Have you ever noticed, after a week of hard work, the weekend finally arrives and insists on always bringing along the same uninvited guests: the nagging headache or vague muscle aches or back pain…?
#health #hormones #stress
If you’re a translator, a proofreader or a writer like me, you’ve been working in front of a screen for decades, typing away all day, and when you do manage to take a few days off (supposedly) to relax, you’re immediately visited by the excruciating pain of tendinitis or a headache from too many hours spent in front of screens.
And when we’re finally on vacation, we’re gifted the flu or gastroenteritis, or vague aches that we can’t even point out…!
Sounds like the evil eye, doesn’t it?
Who “up there” is determined not to let us rest? 🙄
Horrible coincidence or curse? 🔮
No, pain doesn’t magically appear like a curse or a punishment, on purpose, to ruin our well-deserved and long-awaited rest.
But with such constancy, it can’t be mere coincidence! That would defy all logic. So why does it happen?
What if we told you no—it’s not a coincidence?
The thing is, your pain has always been there. You just didn’t perceive it and didn’t acknowledge that it was there.
We’re talking about leisure sickness, the name given to a supposed condition, but not universally recognized, for which some people develop symptoms of illness during weekends and/or vacations.
Leisure sickness mainly affects those who are characterized as workaholics. But not only, and it’s not an invention, it’s not something fabricated by sensitive minds!
Normally, if you think back to when this happens, you’ve already been sensing it for a few days: the threat of a scratchy throat in the morning, an insidious fatigue that surfaced once in a while…
However, unconsciously, you decided to ignore it—how could you find the time to get sick with all that work waiting for you on your laptop?
After all, you have others depending on you to meet company deadlines.
No, you’re definitely not sick—put those thoughts aside because you have deliveries to make!
The week takes its course and, come Friday, you finally fall asleep feeling well, only to wake up on Saturday morning with a sore throat!
You’re “officially” sick, with that damn cold or flu that’s going around, and there’s no denying it.
It’s happened to you, right? Intrigued? 🤒🤒
The usual suspect
The “culprit” is an old and infamous acquaintance of ours: stress!
The truth is that our bodies had been so full of adrenaline until that Saturday morning that, subconsciously, we hadn’t allowed ourselves to give in to feeling unwell.
The more distractions we have, the more we occupy our bodies and minds, the less we realize our symptoms or aches.
On the flip side, all the free time we have during the weekend break or on vacation allows us to finally acknowledge the symptoms that were being repressed.
You’re probably thinking that it’s impossible not to notice that you’re ill.
How could a migraine or a very sore throat go unnoticed?
You’re underestimating the power of the brain over the body!
Stress causes us to produce hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which allow us to temporarily muffle down the symptoms so that we can continue to function.
Adrenaline stimulates the immune system, while cortisol suppresses it.
When the pressures of work decrease and we feel more relaxed and at ease, our bodies no longer need to produce so much adrenaline to keep us constantly in “Turbo mode”!
Simultaneously, it increases our cortisol levels, weakening the immune system.
But flu, otitis, gastroenteritis, etc. are caused by living organisms, bacteria or viruses. 🦠🦠
How could we get an infection just because hormones kick in?
For the same reason: the process of decreasing adrenaline and replacing it with cortisol will “shutdown” the immune system, our barrier against disease, which leaves us especially vulnerable to infections.
Similarly, at the beginning of a break, after a period of increased stress, we can feel depressed! 🥺
The letdown effect caused by the drop in adrenaline and the rise in cortisol can result in symptoms such as anxiety, depression and irritability.
Mental and emotional distress alone can weaken the immune system and make us more susceptible to illness.
Also, those of us who do remote work are not immune to the problem. Not in the least!
Be sure to read the second part of this article where we delve into the role of hormones in this scenario and offer useful tips for solving the problem!
👉🏼“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
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