Psychiatrist Srđa Zlopaša: You don't go on vacation exhausted - you should rest throughout the year

Why do many people return more tired after their vacation than they were before they left? The answer is not in the destination, but in the way we live throughout the year, believes Primarius Dr. Srđa Zlopaša, a psychiatrist. Guesting on Boje jutra on TV Vijesti, he pointed out that one of the biggest mistakes is expecting ten days of vacation to make up for months of accumulated stress, exhaustion, and work obligations.

"How we live during the working year is much more important than those seven or ten days of vacation. People often have unrealistic expectations that they will get rid of everything that has accumulated over months in a short time, and that is not possible either psychologically or physiologically," said Zlopaša.

According to him, it is precisely people who are in the most active phase of their lives and careers who find it most difficult to relax.

"From a full work pace and exhaustion, we go straight into vacation, expecting to completely change the rhythm of life in a few hours. That's simply not realistic," explains Zlopaša.

He also recalled the advice of his professor and supervisor, psychoanalyst Tamara Štajner Popović, who once told him that "you have to go on vacation rested."

As he says, this very sentence best describes how important it is to prepare for a vacation, instead of going on it completely exhausted.

Zlopaša warns that we often idealize vacations, expecting them to resolve both business and family conflicts.

"We project a lot of expectations onto the holidays. We believe that problems will be solved, relationships will improve, or that we will change completely. However, the opposite often happens, and only then are we left alone with our thoughts and problems that we have suppressed during the year," he says.

He adds that it is much more beneficial to develop the habit of regular rest through daily breaks, weekends, and short breaks than to rely solely on annual vacations. Speaking of modern habits, Zlopaša points out that smartphones have become one of the biggest challenges to mental rest.

"We are less and less able to be alone with ourselves, in silence or with a book. We constantly check messages, social networks and compare our lives with others. This further increases frustration because on the internet we mostly see an idealized picture of other people's lives," Zlopaša points out.