What if relaxing on vacation is not as good as we think?

"Rest and enjoy!"

It is the advice we all give (and listen to) when the long-awaited vacation arrives.

Rest for the body and leisure for the mind, two good recommendations, especially in the face of

that it is almost scary to look at the month of September in the calendar.

What rest means is clear:

, even a nap,

compensated with a dose of

under the umbrella,

-of course- to take vitamin D baths, that natural antidepressant that comes from the sky, walks outdoors or simply have an ice cream without schedules in between.

The "dolce far niente" that airs the head so that we can be more creative when the time comes.

Leisure is

matter.

It is the rest of the mind,

Have free time to fill your life with any other activity that has nothing to do with the routines of your daily agenda (even if it is only a little while a day because the obligations as parents, for example, do not go on vacation).

Of course,

each one understands it in his own way.

My friend Cris sends wonderful images of the Egyptian pyramids at dawn.

Juan travels the United States from coast to coast.

Jorge gets up at 4 in the morning to meditate in the forest.

Lucia buys the souk in Marrakech.

Tere has carried the national library in her suitcase.

About those who dance until dawn I do not pronounce.

And Rosa, the riskiest, will stay with "the family and not with the others" (a phrase that I prefer not to interpret).

What is it that rests the mind?

"What stress!", I think, with a certain healthy envy, because this year I am not going on vacation, although, I appreciate your stories because they are better than any Netflix documentary for a being

.

What does science say about it?

It confirms the benefits of this interest of some to stress a little every summer.

According to a University of Georgia study published in the journal Psychiatry Research, this kind of

is good for brain function.

Specifically, it

, that is, the ability to recover and overcome psychological problems after being exposed to stress or adversity.

The same study indicates that this type of stress

(including depressive states and antisocial behavior).

In other words, a good morning to get to the pyramid of Cheops

to handle future stressful processes;

It is a kind of

to face the coming setbacks.

This hypothesis that

make us more efficient and adaptive is based on the

: something that is toxic and harmful in high doses -such as sustained stress over time- produces the opposite effect in low doses.

Thus, these activities allow to

, essential aspects in stress management, but within the framework of a playful environment.

That is precisely what children do, they play to learn, which is why they have a great capacity for adaptation and resilience.

The study author Assaf Oshri (although he refers to work environments) suggests that if you find yourself in an

you can develop coping mechanisms that allow you to become a more efficient worker, be more productive and relaxed. in later work.

In short, while you are "fallow" you are working, as the people of the countryside well know.

We speak of a

that potentially leads to personal development, while high stress causes damage to the immune system, brain function, emotional regulation, etc.

The line between the amount of stress that makes us grow and the amount that sinks us into misery is a fine one.

If there are several very clear sensors in the body, the mind may think that it is capable of doing infinitely more things than it can actually do, but the body lives in the here and now.

Stress

If you start to feel discomfort in any of them, please leave the leisure part and activate the rest part.

Of course, continue

around you with your five senses and in this way you will also practice the valuable technique of 'mindfulness' known as "savoring".

Epigenetics and positive memories

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ISR

Epigenetics is the part of genetics that studies

.

A well-known example is that of monozygotic twin brothers with the schizophrenia gene, where one of them can develop the disease and the other does not, depending on the influence of the environment that causes said gene to be "turned on or off" , that is, as a function of epigenetic variability.

The reason why people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder find it difficult to suppress their memories is that their genetic endowment has undergone an epigenetic change, as indicated by Johannes Gräff, professor of neuro-epigenetics at the Polytechnic School of Lausiana.

That is,

.

Isabel Serrano-Rosa

is a psychologist and director of EnPositivo Sí.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

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