Are the holiday blues real?

While anecdotally most of us would say yes, the crash of emotion we experience after travelling does have a very real impact on our mental health, too. According to the experts at Medical News Today, while not a clinically recognised condition, the post-holiday blues refer to the depressed state people may experience after returning from a vacation. Because while taking time off to rest is undoubtedly good for your health, the positive effects don’t always last.

It makes sense: on returning home, we can feel pressure to immediately get back to work and our daily routines, which may lead to an increase in mental stress.

So why do we get post-holiday blues?

According to psychiatrist Dr Galyna Selezneva, there are several factors that can contribute to feelings of disappointment, emptiness and loneliness after taking a trip.

“The summer holiday season is often filled with excitement, anticipation and a break from regular routines. So, when the holidays come to an end, people may feel a sense of loss as they return to their normal day-to-day lives,” she tells Stylist. After all, much like a big event or birthday, when an occasion we’ve been counting down the days to finally arrives – and then passes – it can feel anticlimactic. For some individuals, she adds, the holiday blues may also be linked to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that occurs during specific seasons, typically in autumn and winter.

“The high expectations, pressure to make things ‘just right’ and increased financial expenses are just a few of the reasons why we get holiday blues,” adds Dr Callisto Adams, a relationship expert. This, she says, is partly because the media we consume often encourages us to spend our holidays in a particular way.

“There’s such a focus on putting effort into as many details as possible to make each trip joyful, as well as spending a lot of money on clothes, beauty treatments, experiences while we’re there and gifts to bring home,” she continues. Therefore, it’s no surprise that once we’re no longer distracted by all these expectations, what we’re left with can fail to measure up.

Post-holiday blues: why we feel so flat after returning from a trip