How To Deal With A Travel Hangover?
Do you often feel sad or completely thrown off track after a vacation? Like you feel lost in your familiar surroundings of home and workspace and feel disconnected with your daily routine and the people around you?
Well, you may have a “travel hangover.” Yes, it is real! You can call it a millennial thing or a term invented for people who are plain lazy to get back to work after a vacation. There is some scientific proof that travel hangover is real and impacts your mental being and moods.
Also, read Ways To Overcome Post Travel Sickness
What are the causes of travel hangovers?
The chief of psychology, Stewart Shankman, at Northwestern University, believes travel hangovers have a lot to do with time zones. Your body programs to function according to its internal clock or the circadian rhythm. This function includes the glands that produce and release your hormones- the endocrine system and your nervous system. The sudden imbalance in your circadian rhythm proportionately affects your mood. Traveling across time zones affects your mood, and even if you do not travel but change your sleeping pattern, i.e., sleeping late and waking up late, it invariably makes your body feel like it has had a change in time zones.
All of this combined can make you feel what we call the travel hangover.
Can you deal with travel hangovers like the hangover you feel after a night of heavy drinking? Well no!
Let us check some basic ways to deal with a travel hangover:
Regulating your sleep cycle
Trying to immediately kick your mind and body to start sleeping at your usual time will not work-out well. Be gentle and start by going to bed an hour earlier than you would have on vacation, and then on the second day, sleep two hours before and so on, till you get your circadian rhythm back on track.
Normalization of your meals
Start with mild meals, maybe some soups and salads that are light on the stomach and still filling. Give time to your digestive system to recuperate after all the delicious food you gorged on while on vacation. Your gut getting back to normal is vital for your body and mind to
Keep the alcohol in check
Do you feel bloated and puffy? It is most likely the result of all the partying and alcohol consumption. You can start drinking, from breakfast to dinner and beyond on vacations, after-effects of all the partying hits you post-vacation. Try going on a detox program with some healthy juices, smoothies, including rich green leafy veggies and nutritious fruits in your diet to get back your health mojo.
Balance
Be mindful of your working hours, do not dive into work to keep yourself occupied, and do not allow your mind to wander off. It is also essential not to jump into heavy socializing and drinking to feel normal. Use your work as a positive channel to settle back into your routine and make a proper schedule to consume meals. Start by meeting a friend at a cafe for coffee post work to unwind. Gradually in no time, you will feel your travel hangover fading away.
So essentially, the mantra is to allow yourself a few days to get back to your regular life, not detest it, and let your body’s circadian rhythm fall back into place. Overthinking the whole travel hangover experience and continuously daydreaming about your vacation will only make you feel low. Get back to the grind, hustle hard and then gift yourself another vacation experience with your hard-earned money! You will value it more.
