Even a short break can reduce stress

Even a short break can reduce stress

29/07/2013

In order to keep a sufficient distance from the everyday life and professional stress, regular holidays are very effective. It does not always have to be three weeks at a stretch, as the stress researcher Carmen Binnewies, Professor of Industrial Psychology at the University of Münster newspaper „World on Sunday“ said. Even a short break on the weekend can recharge the energy reserves.

Three weeks of vacation, this does not have to be when it comes to stress balance. How a holiday provides for recreation is only limited by the length of the holiday season. „Even short breaks and weekend trips bring relaxation“, says the professor of occupational medicine. A research had shown that it is important for a recovery, as this is subjectively experienced. Positive experiences could also take place in a shorter time.

Relaxing with activities
Especially when it is very stressful in professional life, passive recovery periods can be very significant to relax. However, studies also showed that it is more important to combine rest and relaxation with sport and culture. Not only by dozing, but also by an active rest, it is possible to vent. Later challenges in the job or in the family could be more effectively mastered.

In principle: „The further you drive away and the more exotic the travel destination, the easier it is probably to switch off.“ Even if the long journey, jet lag, unfamiliar food, communication problems and long flights are added, the effect is the greatest. „Time pressure on vacation is bad. You do not have to go everywhere and be sure to join in the morning pool exercises“. But it is also important to skip the phone and not to edit mails. „It is important that you do not remember work and that your work does not creep into your holiday.“

Dismantle labor mountains before the holiday
So that the recreational effect does not disappear right away when you get home, workers should organize everything before leaving home so that there are no labor mountains waiting to return to. The more work has to be made up after the vacation, the less the rest has then used. Studies have shown that the recovery is gone after about three weeks. For quite a few, the effect disappears after just a few days. „These people feel the same as they did before the holidays“. (Sb)

Picture: Wolfgang Teuber