Holiday Sickness

For some reason, both Caron and I have this very unfortunate habit of falling ill within about the first 3 or 4 days of a holiday. It is the most incredibly annoying habit but on the bright side, it is always a cold so it is over within a couple of days and definitely within the week but if your holiday is only 2 weeks long it effectively obliterates the first half of ones' holiday.

Knowing our track record we try and spend a week at home before heading out on the real holiday. That way you can be sick in the comfort of your home and not have to worry about the expense and lost opportunity while you suffer in bed while the snow or sand beckons.

This pattern seems to be quite well known because a number of people I have spoken to just say, "Ah, yes - it's the stress coming out" but basically it means that somehow, your immune system takes a holiday at the same time you do. This sounds like an interesting topic for some research - I've done a couple of quick googles for it but haven't found anything interesting.

It would really be interesting because if there is a causal link between the onset of holidays and illness and that the the sickness is due to a lack of stress if effectively means that stress keeps illness at bay instead of causing it as we are so often told.