[Click! Health] More Tired After Vacation? How to Deal with Aftereffects

Many people complain of fatigue after summer vacation. This is due to disrupted daily routines during the vacation period. Vacation hangover refers to symptoms such as muscle pain, body aches, insomnia, and decreased stamina caused by disrupted daily routines during the vacation. These symptoms usually improve over time, but in some cases, they can lead to chronic conditions that interfere with daily life.

When traveling for long hours in cramped spaces with uncomfortable postures, pain often occurs around the neck, shoulders, and lower back. Especially if you sleep on an airplane, pain in these areas is more common. While fixed postures increase muscle fatigue, poor posture can also strain the spinal discs.

Professor Kim Won of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Seoul Asan Hospital explained, "The spine is the central axis of our body, playing an important role in supporting body weight and maintaining strength. If the structure of the spine is compromised, it becomes difficult to properly support the waist and neck, and pain such as numbness and stiffness in the limbs often occurs."

If you are usually inactive but then walk a lot or carry heavy luggage at your vacation spot, muscle and ligament damage can occur. Especially with the increase in various water sports such as surfing boards, snorkeling, skin scuba diving, water skiing, and wakeboarding, which involve high levels of activity, fatigue and muscle pain are likely to occur. Muscle pain caused by excessive activity usually improves naturally over time. It typically disappears within a week, and if there is no special injury, no separate treatment is necessary.

Relieve Fatigue with Light Stretching

Light stretching and exercise help relieve the fatigue that comes after vacation and aid in returning to daily life. If muscles are stiff and painful due to excessive activity at the vacation spot, gently stretch the body. When stretching, it is effective to hold the joints or muscles fully extended for about 10 to 20 seconds without using bouncing movements. Stretching with bouncing can actually damage muscles or ligaments.

Also, it is good to perform light exercises such as walking, strolling, or jogging for about 30 minutes to an hour daily without overexertion. If it is difficult to set aside time for exercise, naturally increasing activity levels in daily life also helps. Especially climbing stairs is an easy exercise anywhere that provides both aerobic and strength training benefits.

One Day of Regular Routine Needed Before Returning to Work

Having about a day of free time before returning to work after vacation helps prevent vacation hangover. If it is realistically difficult to have free time between vacation and returning to work due to a short vacation period, try to adapt your biological rhythm to work life for about a week after returning to the office. Maintaining a regular routine is especially important. Even if you feel somewhat tired, keep a consistent wake-up time and take a lukewarm bath in the evening. Also, it is important to avoid drinking alcohol for about two weeks after vacation.

High Fever and Lower Back Pain After Visiting a Swimming Pool? Suspect Acute Pyelonephritis

Acute pyelonephritis is an infection of the kidneys caused by bacteria. It is especially easy to get infected with bacteria in crowded places such as swimming pools or public baths. Symptoms include high fever and lower back pain. Lower back pain caused by general muscle pain is felt just above the pelvis, but pain from acute pyelonephritis is felt at the costovertebral angle where the spine meets the lowest rib. The kidneys are located in this costovertebral angle area. Acute pyelonephritis improves quickly within 2 to 3 days if treated early, but delayed treatment can lead to sepsis. Sepsis is a serious condition where bacteria grow in the bloodstream, with a mortality rate of over 50%. Women have a urethra that is shorter than men’s, making it easier for bacteria to enter the bladder, so the incidence of acute pyelonephritis is about 10 times higher in women than in men.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.