When Dutch researcher Ad Vingerhoets, Ph.D., began noticing that some of his weekends and vacations were spent suffering through headaches and other physical ailments, he tried to find out if any studies had been done on the phenomenon. He found none, so Vingerhoets, whose research area is stress and emotions, decided to study the subject himself.

Along with fellow researcher Maaike Van Huijgevoort, Ph.D., also from the department of clinical health psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, Vingerhoets observed more than 100 people who were plagued by headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and nausea over weekends and holidays. Most of the subjects had suffered these symptoms for more than 10 years, and symptoms commenced with stressful events in their lives, such as divorce or death. The researchers, who presented their findings at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, determined that people who are perfectionists, carry large workloads and feel very responsible for their work are more apt to suffer from these symptoms, termed leisure sickness.

While Vingerhoets' study wasn't intended to help participants overcome leisure sickness, he does have some suggestions for preventing the weekend malady. Physical exercise on Friday evening would facilitate the physiological transition from activity to rest, he says. Also, try to perceive your work from a different perspective and attach more importance to other things such as family.