Why You Keep Getting Sick on Vacation (And How to Stop It)

You finally made it to the beach. The sun is warm, the drink is cold, and the only thing on your schedule is nothing. Then your throat starts to tickle, your head aches, and suddenly you're spending your precious days off sniffling in a hotel room. It feels unfair—but it's also surprisingly common. There's even a name for it: leisure sickness.

Psychologist Ad Vingerhoets coined the term after noticing he often got ill during breaks. His research found that people who push hard at work are particularly prone to falling apart once they finally stop. The culprit? Cortisol. This stress hormone acts like a lid on a boiling pot, keeping inflammation and minor infections in check while you're sprinting through deadlines. But the moment you decompress, cortisol drops, the lid lifts, and your immune system starts sounding the alarm.

“Your body wasn’t protecting you from illness during the stress,” explains Dr. Steven Goldberg, a Kentucky-based physician. “It was just delaying the inevitable.”

So how do you avoid becoming a cautionary tale? Start before you leave. Prioritize sleep—seven to nine hours a night in the week leading up to your trip. Hydrate like it's your job, especially on the plane, where dry air and altitude work against you. Keep alcohol and caffeine to a minimum while flying. And for goodness' sake, don't pack your itinerary so full that you need a vacation from your vacation.

Dr. Richelle Guerrero-Wooley, an infectious disease specialist, recommends checking in with your doctor before traveling, especially if you have a suppressed immune system. Make sure your vaccines are current and your prescriptions are refilled.

A little planning now can mean the difference between sipping sangria on the beach and sipping cough syrup in bed.