Coming down with a virus is always a bummer, whether you have an empty calendar or a full one. But it can be flat-out maddening when that pesky cold aligns with a vacation you’re excited about. Who wants to be sick in a hotel bed instead of exploring a must-visit destination?
While no amount of reasoning makes a badly timed illness any better, some researchers say there may be a reason why this happens when you’re on a trip.
Dutch researchers Ad Vingerhoets and Maaike Van Huijgevoort dubbed this phenomenon as “leisure sickness,” or the act of getting sick on vacation or during leisure time over the weekend. They found that 3.6% of men and 2.7% of women they surveyed experienced it over a weekend, while 3.2% of men and 3.2% of women experienced it on a vacation.
Participants said their leisure sickness is tied to issues like work stress, travel stress or work changes; once their body takes a break from work or planning and finally slows down to rest, they come down with symptoms.
Can built-up stress really make you sick when you slow down?
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s definitely false, I’ll just say it’s unproven, and what it needs, like any study, it needs duplication,” said Dr. Christopher Sanford, an associate professor of family medicine and global health at the University of Washington. Sanford also hosts the travel health podcast ”Germ & Worm.”
Sanford said there just isn’t enough research into the concept of “leisure sickness.” There need to be larger studies in multiple settings that also compare data to when folks aren’t traveling, Sanford noted.
While you won’t go to a doctor while on vacation and get a diagnosis of “leisure sickness,” there are some separate reasons why you may still fall ill while you’re traveling or feeling stressed. Here’s what experts say:
You may be stressed or anxious and have trouble slowing down.
“Most of us who work hard are not as good at being vacationers as we are at working because we do work most of the time,” said Dr. David Spiegel, the director of the Stanford Center on Stress and Health in California and the founder of the sleep app Reveri.
Some folks deal with anxiety by burying themselves in work while other people’s deepest stressors, like financial instability or job loss, are directly related to their work output, Spiegel explained.
This means that when you aren’t stuck at your desk for hours on end, checking every email and answering every call, your mind could easily spiral into worst-case work scenarios.
“They wonder what the competitors in the office are doing, or whether the boss is going to get angry if you don’t respond within 24 hours,” Spiegel said. “People get nervous, they get anxious about what’s going on while they’re not on email responding right away.”
Some people struggle to let go of that and slow down on vacation, added Sanford, which could even lead to symptoms like headache.
“Anxiety is a psycho-physiological phenomenon, so ... when you start to worry about something, you feel it in your body, your muscles tense, you start to sweat, your heart rate goes, you breathe shallowly,” Spiegel said.
Meaning, if you are a highly stressed person at work, you likely won’t feel great, mentally or physically, when you finally do unplug.
On vacation, you may not be sleeping as well, which can make you feel lousy.
“It doesn’t entirely surprise me that not everybody would instantly feel happy and relaxed on a vacation, and some of the psychological discomfort may be experienced as ... feeling fatigued or they’re not sleeping as well,” Spiegel said.
When you’re tired in the mornings, you may find yourself wondering if there is something wrong with your body, he noted. “And not to mention jet lag ... you change three or four time zones, you don’t get to sleep as well, you have trouble waking up.”
“Sleep disruption is something that is a real problem that affects your mental and your physical well-being,” Spiegel continued. “If you don’t get enough sleep, you’re going to feel lousy when you wake up instead of refreshed, and that can lead on to other things — dragging yourself around, worrying about why you’re not feeling better, why aren’t you energetic and happy.”
No one ever feels their best after a bad night’s rest, whether on vacation or just at home.
Chronic stress can lower your immune function — and you’re likely exposed to more germs on vacation.
“Chronic stress can lower your resistance to fight infectious diseases, which can make you a little more likely to get a head cold or COVID or influenza,” Sanford said. So, if you’re dealing with anxiety or the ongoing work-related stressors mentioned above, you could already be at a deficit.
Additionally, since you’re likely around more people than usual while traveling, you’re more likely to be exposed to viruses. “It’s a combination of the two,” Spiegel noted.
Since you’re in a new area on vacation, you’re also more likely to be exposed to pathogens that you aren’t exposed to in your everyday life, so you don’t already have built-up immunity, Spiegel added.
There is no magic way to keep yourself from getting sick on vacation ― but there are small steps you can take to stay healthy and happy.
“The idea of acutely boosting your immune system is a myth, and it’s a myth propagated by a lot of for profit products. So the idea that you can take vitamins or do something else to acutely boost your immune system is not true,” Sanford said. “Your immune system is determined chronically, over years, by your genetics, your lifestyle, and things that over years to decades, that will improve your immune system are things like not smoking and maintaining regular weight and regular exercise and a good diet.”
You can also reduce your risk of getting sick by making sure you’re up-to-date on your vaccinations for things like COVID and influenza, wearing a mask in crowded spaces and washing your hands frequently throughout your travels, according to Sanford.
It’s also important to prioritize your sleep and your mental health before, during and after a vacation, Spiegel said. “You should be in training, doing the things that help your body and your mind feel better.”
If you’re often in an anxious mode, it’s no wonder you can’t just turn that off as soon as you step off the plane.
“So, just the way you would prepare yourself for a hiking trip by doing some long walks, prepare yourself for a vacation by learning to tone it down and handle your anxiety better and prepare yourself for having a really good, relaxing time,” Spiegel said.
Talking to a mental health professional is one way to handle stress, or you can try mindfulness techniques like meditation or breath work.
Spiegel also recommended that you imagine your body in a safe and comfortable space when you’re feeling stress or anxious — “control the one part of the stressor that you can actually do something about right away, which is how your body’s feeling, and then you can better face the problem that you’re trying to deal with,” he said.
More, Sanford said he tries to take it easy the first day or two of a trip. He’ll allow time for naps, coffee shop visits and relaxation, but won’t pack his schedule full of touristy endeavors.
“I don’t know if that makes me sick less often, but I’m less miserable for the first day or two, because it does make people feel crummy to be jet lagged,” said Sanford.
All in all, feeling unwell on vacation is, unfortunately, not rare because of ongoing life stressors, new environments with new germs, crowded spaces and thrown-off sleep patterns. You can’t totally keep yourself from getting sick on a trip, but you can create a lifestyle that’s full of both physical health care and mental health care to help keep yourself healthy whether you’re traveling or not.