Experts warn about the dangers of working on vacation: “The body will remain stressed”

Vacation workaholics either continue to perform their work duties sporadically, or cannot afford to turn off even for a short time, for example, on the beach or while contemplating the frescoes of an old monastery, as they are constantly pulled by colleagues with work calls.

The opinion poll revealed the most “restless” professions that do not come off work duties even on rest days: most of these are among sales managers (53%), chief accountants (47%) and economists (42%).

38% of respondents said that they are interrupted from rest only occasionally, and 41% – often (moreover, over the past year their number has increased). And only every twentieth said that he had the opportunity to cut off all his business contacts for the vacation period in order to completely unload his brain and nervous system.

“On my vacation, I went to the clinic several times, even if not for the whole day,” a young reproductive specialist Yulia from Moscow told us. “My patients that I manage had procedures that could not be delayed for two weeks. Of course, I trust my colleagues, but I still wanted to continue monitoring the patients myself … I haven’t been working for so long, so for now I enjoy my job, and I don’t even feel sorry for vacations.

Another example of “great vacation workers” are journalists. “Strip materials come out on different days, and may end up on your vacation,” says Lyudmila, correspondent for the daily newspaper. – Then colleagues can call to clarify some questions. And if some event happens with a famous person that you “lead”, you just sit down at the computer, wherever you are, and write an article. But I put up with these costs of our profession, because I love my job.

– Most of all, this “suffers”, first of all, of course, the management team – general directors, deputy directors, – says career consultant and psychologist Svetlana Lenkova – SEO specialists (specialists in site traffic), who must constantly keep their finger on the pulse. HR managers and recruiters, because they are often called by candidates. Assistants and executive assistants, who usually work 24/7 and also, as a rule, need to be in touch during their holidays.

I note that this whole story does not always depend on the profession, but rather depends on the specific company, as they usually do. For example, it is customary for someone that a person on vacation should be constantly “on the phone”.

The expert believes that it is harmful to work on vacation, but one must distinguish: if it is occasionally, everything is not so sad, and if you are constantly distracted and do some work, then this situation harms both the employee and the quality of the work performed. This leads to professional and emotional burnout, recalls Lenkova, which is a real scourge of our time.

– As a psychologist, I can also note that whether to work on your vacation is also a matter of personal boundaries, the person himself sets them. Why don’t software developers fundamentally work, according to this survey? Because programmers are usually introverts, and they are very good at building these personal boundaries around themselves.

Doctors also reminded about the dangers of defective vacations for the body.

“Vacation does not happen so often, the brain should “turn off” from work, rest for this time,” explained Elena Kudryashova, a general practitioner from St. Petersburg. – It is very important to relieve stress during the holidays, because, as a rule, the work of most of us is associated with a stressful factor. And on vacation, you can relax, balance your nervous system and get positive emotions, which is important for overall health.

If you work on vacation, it already turns out to be a continuation of working days, only with an easier regimen, with an increase in the number of hours for rest. In this mode, the body does not understand the difference between work and vacation. He will continue to be under stress. The well-known statement “all diseases are from the nerves” is still relevant today, since the nervous system controls all our organs. And giving it time for a full reboot is very important, especially in our time.

Kudryashova advises: if it is absolutely impossible to disconnect from work during the vacation period, then a clear “work-rest” scheme should be developed. And not so that the whole day is distracted by work issues. For example, set aside three hours for this in the morning, and the rest of the time not to touch work and not think about it. Or take another segment of the day. Warn co-workers not to disturb you at other times.

The doctor also warned about burnout: non-stop work will inevitably lead to burnout, and this applies to any profession.

– Let it be a short vacation, 4-5 days, but even if you have a full rest in this short period, a person will be able to reboot his entire body. And these few days can be equated by the result with a long rest. In this case, when you return to the working days again, the work becomes more efficient.

By the way, as the doctor noted, work on your vacation is typical for remote workers. As usual, we have a shoemaker without boots: most of all workers during the vacation period are among doctors. For example, those representatives of medical specialties who, among other things, also consult online, do not stop providing assistance to patients during the holidays.