Hello Friends,
Here’s this week’s question. It’s about leisure sickness, a term to describe the the falling apart or getting sick, that often happens when we stop or take a break following a big push or a great achievement.
Dear Deb,
I recently achieved some really big goals in my work and my uni course, but now I’ve come down with a virus that’s been really hard to shake and has sent me to the couch when I should be celebrating. Can we talk about how that happens and how much it sucks?
Yes. Let’s! It does suck to be looking forward to an achievement or even a holiday, working hard in the lead up only to collapse on the couch with a box of Panadol when you wanted to be having fun.
I like the cartoon above because the person is pushing that boulder up hill with such full exertion that it looks as though she is about to fall on her face from committing all her body weight to the process. It perfectly describes how life is a delicate balancing act.
I really enjoy pushing hard at the things I want to achieve too. Life is finite, length of time unknown, so I don’t feel good about wasting time.
But when is the push too much, the drive too punishing, so you end up working against yourself and falling on your face with exhaustion? How do you keep the balance? That’s not necessarily an easy question to answer.
Is it when the thing stops feeling fun?
No, I don’t think so, because loads of massively rewarding, enjoyable things are the result of pushing on and staying the course, especially through moments when the fun wanes.
Plus, the joy always drops away temporarily when our level of ability in something is increasing, because it gets harder to have wins. That’s not a reason to stop. It often means you’re levelling up in a good way.
I don’t think even feeling tired or jaded is necessarily a good indicator of over-doing things, for the same reason. We absolutely don’t achieve amazing things without going through some periods of being pissed off at the hard work and tired or frustrated by our inevitable mistakes.
The ‘let down’ phase, meaning that tendency to contract a minor illness, feel sad and flat or demotivated after a big achievement, is a real thing. Most of us have probably experienced it at least once, for example when you take a much anticipated holiday after a big push at work or school, and immediately get sick!
There has been some research into this phenomenon that seeks to explain why it happens and how to try to avoid the fall into a cold, a migraine, or the like, when you take a break.
It’s been hypothesised that getting ill after a big period of work, might come down to a lull in the immune system as it rebalances. You’ve been going hard, your body and mind focused, with stress hormones pumping.
The stress hormones help you do your best work in some ways, but it’s possible that there is a window of time where your energised, adrenalin dissipates, leaving a brief spike in the hormones that depress other functions, like your immune system.
During this rebalancing time, it’s thought that you could be a little more susceptible to getting taken down by a virus or infection, being temporarily less equipped to defend against it. Combine that with changing environments, maybe jumping on a plane or changing daily habits as you take a rest, and you could be increasing your exposure to bugs too. Hence, sick on holiday…
What can you do to avoid that sad situation?
Obviously leisure sickness is pretty common and the best advice is the same as all the healthy-living advice - Try to live in a balanced way so your immune system is as strong as possible.
Of course that’s all about healthy diet, time to relax, getting some exercise, drinking water - all those things we can tend to neglect a little when we’re very focussed on a big task or achievement.
It also helps to consciously incorporate little meditation or relaxation times into your day, even when you’re very driven on a project, which is easier said than done. However, that fore-thought and moderation even when you want to go hard at a project, might well make a difference to your post-project health and your ability to celebrate your success.
For what it’s worth, I can tell you my indicator that I’m pushing too hard, and likely heading for a fall. You might relate. It’s more about how I notice I am in my head than in the rest of my body.
I’ve found that if I’m working so hard that I am starting to struggle to relax my mind at end of day, that I’ve started to crave constant distraction even when I’m wanting to wind down - that’s the big red flag to myself that I’m overdoing it.
It’s like my brain gets addicted to the work and gets on this can’t stop, won’t stop roll. It happens gradually. My sleep isn’t as good, my work days get longer, my quality of relaxation is less and less, well, relaxing, because my head has gotten hooked on the action. It’s over-stimulation.
That’s when I know I’m over-doing it. I know from experience, that’s when I’ll be heading for a cold or a headache, because there’s going to be a big rebalance when I finally stop.
So, I suggest that in order to avoid falling on your face after a big push, monitor the quality of your head stuff. Yup - good old mindfulness! Listen to your thoughts and feelings, notice when the speed in the old head is getting frenetic, the demands higher, the self-talk harsher in your mind. Be vigilant because it can be a slow build that sneaks up.
When you become aware of the pace of everything speeding up, a resistance to taking a pause or winding down, your sleep becoming lower quality or shorter, listen to yourself.
Seek out and implement more balance, even if a part of you is resisting, and you’ll be more likely to remain upright after you cross your finish line.
This is my favourite bit:
Life is finite, length of time unknown, so I don't feel good about wasting time.
Great advice! Especially Try to live in a balanced way so your immune system is as strong as possible. This really reminds me of the way I approach growing strong plants in my garden, so why wouldn't the same rules apply to life?