The Biochemistry of Vacation: Why YOU Relaxed and Burned Out EVEN MORE

🌊THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF VACATION: WHY YOU FELT RECHARGED—AND EVEN MORE BURNED OUT

Why do you sometimes feel like you need another vacation right after you get back from one? Why does life suddenly feel easier, more energetic, and more interesting in another country—even if you didn’t get enough sleep, walked a lot, and were actually tired? And why does everything suddenly “crash down” on you again once you return home?

In this lecture, we’ll explore what actually happens to your brain and body during rest and why a vacation doesn’t always mean recovery.

Let’s talk about:

• 🩵 what the brain does during rest (spoiler: it doesn’t exactly rest :)
• 🩵 how novelty activates adaptive reserves
• 🩵 why the depletion of reserves can be mistaken for recovery
• 🩵 why the body sometimes needs rest after a vacation

It’ll be neurobiology without the boring academic jargon: jet lag, the First Night Effect, memory quirks, “rose-tinted retrospection,” post-vacation contrast, leisure sickness, and other effects that can make a vacation feel completely different from what we expect.

And most importantly—we’ll explore why a change of scenery can truly help us feel better, but not necessarily for the reason we’re used to telling ourselves.

• 🗣 Arseny Gusev—a psychotherapist and clinical psychologist with 13 years of experience, practicing an integrative approach to psychotherapy. Author of the book “It’s Not Like That for Everyone” and the Telegram channel https://t.me/docgusevav

• 🗓 September 13 (Sunday) at 6:00 p.m.

• 📍 Vojvode Dobrnjca 48, Belgrade