Why Do I Only Get Sick When I Take A Break?

Day-to-day, you’re rushing between meetings, battling a barrage of emails, and spilling crumbs from your wolfed-down lunch over the laptop you spend your break hovering near.

You might not take many, or any, sick days; though you’re stressed, your immune system seems to be playing ball.

But somehow, the second you get some rest – a well-earned holiday – your body seems to turn against you. You get a cold, or a sore throat, or the type of flu you never seem to experience while working.

If this – or something like it – sounds familiar, it turns out there’s a name for your experience. Professor Mark Schoen, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine, coined the term “the let-down effect” to describe negative health effects during conditions like these.

Here’s what Dr Mitra Dutt, Associate Medical Director of Clinical Innovation at Pharmacy2U, says about the phenomenon.

Basically, it’s when a break from stressful or very active periods of your life seems to negatively affect your physical or mental health. Prof Schoen said it could apply to everyone from athletes who’d just reached career high to recent retirees.

Dr Dutt said that “After long periods of pressure, the stress hormones that help to keep us going during these times begin to fall. So a sudden switch to relaxation, such as the start of the holiday, can make hidden illnesses or symptoms quickly start to appear.

“This can trigger things like migraines, increase inflammation and make viral infections, like colds, more noticeable.”

She added this might be more common among “those who are often under sustained pressure, whether that’s to do with their job, lifestyle or other factors such as caregiving responsibilities”.

One study has found that the “let-down effect” seemed to increase the chance of migraine among people who get them.

In his book, When Relaxation is Hazardous to Your Health, Prof Schoen also linked it to flare-ups in chronic conditions like psoriasis and chronic fatigue.

Some doctors think this may happen because stress changes how our immune system works, potentially making it less reactive to illness. And when it’s free to work as usual, it might shut down, leaving us vulnerable to infection.

Dr Dutt shared that “One of the best ways to reduce the risk of the let-down effect is to manage stress before it builds up”.

That can include taking steps like:

1. Having regular breaks,
2. Prioritising sleep, exercise, and a balanced diet,
3. Trying stress-management techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or mindfulness,
4. Tapering down activity rather than hitting the brakes fully: “stay gently active during the first few days of your holiday, rather than going straight from a hectic schedule to doing nothing,” advised the expert.