Millions of people will leave their working places and start their holidays in the next weeks.
The daily routine will be part of the past and resting days, pictures at the seashore and summer memories will be back to stay, at least for some weeks.
Experts estimate that 35 per cent of Spanish workers between the ages of 25 and 40 will have to face the 'post-holiday syndrome' when they get back to routine: a general feeling of discomfort caused by the person's inability to adapt to work after finishing holidays.
Humbelina Robles Ortega, a researcher of the department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada), warns that getting back to routine can cause both physical and psychological symptoms. "Usually, when the post-holiday syndrome causes physical symptoms, it is nothing but the physical expression of psychological unease", she states. Tiredness, lack of appetite and concentration, drowsiness or sleeplessness, abnormally rapid heartbeat and muscular ache are just some of the physical symptoms of this illness. The psychological symptoms include irritability, anxiety, sadness, couldn't-care-less attitude and a deep feeling of emptiness.
According to professor Robles Ortega's advice, a good way of preventing this illness is to divide the holidays up into several periods, instead of taking the full period in one go: "If our holidays last one month and our employer allows us to do so, we could take fifteen days first and another fifteen days later on. This will prevent anxiety and we will be under the impression of a longer holiday period. Moreover, changes in habits won't be so radical and permanent and, therefore, re-starting work won't be so traumatic".