Have you ever come back from a vacation feeling like you need another one just to recover? You just had to see everything, do everything, and in the process didn't give yourself enough time to just simply rest and relax. 

It's understandable, of course. We are conditioned to go, go, go all the time. Life is busy, and it we can't keep up we fall behind. But, fortunately, there are three things we can do to remedy this, no matter if we are off on a 2-day weekend or a 2-week foreign holiday!

Holiday little and often: The researchers found that having shorter breaks every two months or so is better than having a longer one- or two-week break once or twice a year. So, get on a train and visit your friend for just one night. Book a cheap flight to that city you’ve always wanted to see. Turn weekends into mini breaks. Whatever happens, try not to bunch your work and bunch your rest. Don’t ever go long without a holiday.

Turn off work entirely: In the brilliant movie, Green Book, Viggo Mortensen’s character Tony says something that I try to live my life by: “You know, my father used to say, ‘Whatever you do, do it 100%. When you work, work. When you laugh, laugh. When you eat, eat like it’s your last meal.’”

Be active: If you sit on the beach all day, drink all night, and idle the time away, you’ll come back home little rested for it. Either be physically active (walk around, book activities, mix it up) or use your mind a bit (have good conversations, explore the local culture, try something new).

We all look forward to holidays, and it’s common to bemoan how ineffective they are. We sit at our desks on the Monday after a week away and say, “It feels like I’ve never been away.” It turns out it might just be because we’re holidaying wrong.