But Esther Sternberg, a researcher of neuroendocrine immunology at the National Institutes of Health, disagrees. Sternberg, author of "The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions," calls leisure sickness real, tied to the release of hormones under stress.
In times of stress, the body's adrenal glands release adrenaline, which makes the heart beat faster and causes a person to feel sweaty and anxious. Adrenaline gives a boost to the immune system, the body's defense against infection, Sternberg says. But while adrenaline is pumping, so is cortisol -- a potent anti-inflammatory hormone also released by the adrenal glands.
"The reason [cortisol] works as an anti-inflammatory is because it's turning off the immune cells," Sternberg says. "You're no longer able to effectively fight infection."
The two hormones are timed differently, with adrenaline starting up and shutting down much faster than cortisol. "What happens when you stop doing what it is you were doing that stressed you is that the adrenaline shuts off first," Sternberg says. "You are left with this cortisol floating around. And if at that moment someone coughs in your face, you get sick."
Another hypothesis: Vacations and holidays involve greater exposure to germs that make you sick. Or another: Much of the year, busy people ignore the signals they are sick because they don't have the time to acknowledge them.
But Sternberg says stress hormones go a long way toward explaining why most people who suffer from leisure sickness on vacation experience their symptoms within the first couple of days after they stop work, as Vingerhoets observed in his survey.
"There is a biology to it," Sternberg says. "There is enough evidence in other settings. . . . to say that leisure illness is probably a real phenomenon."
Adds Vingerhoets, "I have spoken with people from many countries -- from . . . Brazil to Australia. In all of these countries, they recognize it."
Suena Huang, an instructor of psychiatry at George Washington University Hospital, says dealing with the syndrome may require rethinking your outlook on success. "Someone who's a perfectionist may impose higher expectations on himself and bring about higher anxiety on himself," she says.. "Instead of seeing perfection as the goal, perhaps seeing a balance as the goal would be one way to go -- working leisure activities and relaxation time into each day."
Huang says she sees many workaholic patients who are prone to leisure sickness. She encourages them to accept their imperfections.
Vingerhoets and Sternberg also recommend regular exercise. "If you're under such chronic stress that you're impairing your immune system, you need to pace yourself," Sternberg says. "You can't expect to push your body to the breaking point and not have it break."
