Main Reasons Why You Get Sick After Coming from a Relaxing Vacation

Hmm, so you would imagine after a long and relaxing vacation, your body would be pumped for the day, and you would be as fit as a fiddle in terms of your immune system, right?

Interestingly, by the time most people make it back home and have barely made it out of the airport, they can already feel those sniffles and body aches start manifesting. Before they know it, they are being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance maneuvering its way slyly through traffic!

Which begs the question; why do we get sick after a vacation?

According to Inna Lukyanovsky, a pharmacist by profession, she says that it is quite the norm for patients to return back home with all sorts of sicknesses.

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Despite coming from a lengthy vacation, most people instantly get sick due to a myriad of factors while traveling and being in a new environment

Leisure Sickness

As a matter of fact, the CDC has even designated a special part of its website to handle cases regarding this phenomenon. In most cases, this condition is referred to as leisure sickness.

So it doesn’t matter whether you spent most of your time on vacation sleeping in your 5-star hotel, or perhaps you opted to be out and about exploring the sights and sounds, the fact that you went on vacation will have an effect on your body.

For starters, there’s a lot of change that your body will be experiencing while you’re out on vacation. So for you to suddenly up and leave to get back home, it will take some time for the mind and body to adjust back to its usual routine.

That being said, scientists have deduced that there could be viable reasons as to why your body responds in such a manner. They are as follows:

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Planes

Yes, planes had to make it onto this list, but it’s not for the reason you might be thinking. While it’s practical to think of all the gross air that’s being recycled every time someone sneezes or coughs, that might not be the main reason as to why you are prone to be sick.

According to pharmacist Lindsey Elmore, the real reason behind some plane-related sickness is the low humidity that you’re exposed to during flight.

As the plane flies through high altitude, the humidity tends to be much lower than on the ground, which can result in serious irritation in the nose and throat because of the drying out of the nasal passages. This can make it more difficult for your body to fight off any bacteria.

Germs

Of course, germs are one of the main reasons that individuals get sick after a splendid vacation. Call it the irony of life, if you like.

Sometimes you might be having so much fun during your vacation that you throw caution to the wind on basic sanitation skills such as washing your hands in a public place, greeting people all the time with your hands.

Additionally, the fact that you will be out and about during the vacation means that you will come into contact with millions of germs while using public transit, at train stations, and even while visiting tourist sites.

According to M.D. and assistant professor at the University of Kansas, Dana Hawkinson, the fact that you can be in different continents and hemispheres in such a short period of time, makes it easier for you to contract a number of viruses and bacteria so easily.

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However, germs are the leading cause of illness when we go to a new place.

The Effects of Exhaustion

One of the things that you have to understand is that traveling is exhausting. Even if you went to the most chilled out hotel in the whole world, the long tiring journey is enough to knock the wind out of you.

Before you even make it to your dream island, it’s a given that your body has been worn out by all the packing, binge-eating, and traveling you have done (especially when you are all cooped up in a plane for 14 hours straight).

The Alcohol Factor

Last but not least, another reason you could be feeling blue is that you went hard on the cocktails during your vacation. That’s because excessive consumption of alcohol can hinder your body’s detoxification system and further impair your immune system, making it much easier for bacteria and viruses to invade your system.

So maybe you need to go a bit easy on all those drinks during your vacation!