Take an Ultra-Mini Vacacation --without telling your boss!
1. Turn your phone off and leave the office to take your lunch break.
"Our bodies are designed to deal with stress intermittently, not 24 hours a day," says David Posen, M.D., the author of
The Little Book of Stress Relief. "Removing the source of stress, even for a short time, allows your body to recover, restore, and relax."
2. Put your favorite vacay snap on your desktop.
Upload some of your favorite vacation snaps to your computer and use them as your background and screensaver. Vacation researchers even use this trick! "Viewing pictures of a restful scene allows you to recapture the feelings associated with the image," says Posen.
3. Reminisce about your vacation with your coworkers. Psychologists say the more you talk about a recent vacation, the better it lodges in your memory. George Loewenstein, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University says, "You may think it's cheesy to give a slideshow but the benefit of boring your friends and neighbors is that you're more likely to retain the experience yourself."
4. Go outside more often.
Chances are, you spent much of your trip outdoors. Keep it up when you return home. Columbia University researchers found that exposure to the negative air ions created when air molecules are exposed to sunlight, radiation, moving air, and water generated feelings of alertness, mental clarity, and elevated mood. Think about how often you were outdoors on your most recent vacation. Perhaps you were sightseeing in a city, lounging on a beach or hiking. All outdoors! You can recreate the sounds of the outdoors at home as well. For instance, the steady, calming sound of waves helps relax your body. Listen carefully on your next spa visit and you'll hear a variety of ambient, outdoor sounds in all the rooms. "The natural rhythm of the waves' ebb and flow helps slow the mind and relax the body," says Alan Keck, Psy.D., a psychologist with a private practice in Altamonte Springs, Florida, whose specializes in clinical hypnosis. You can download your own nature-sound mp3 for $2 at
soundsleeping.com.
6. Breathe deeply.
You probably didn't notice, but when you were on vacation, you were breathing more deeply. Strange as it seems, most people don't notice their breathing until they are asked to focus on it. For instance, during a massage we tend to focus on our breathing because truthfully, there's nothing else to do. In a
massage we are being asked to slow down and come to a place of rest. Try some meditation by focusing on your breathing. Close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose for 5 to 10 minutes. "Deep breaths stretch out muscles in your chest and diaphragm and alert your mind that you're ready to relax," says Peg Baim, clinical director of the training center at the Bensen-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
7. Make your own aromatherapy.
Time for a confessional. When I go on vacation, I have an uncontrollable urge to see how many hotel shampoos, body washes, conditioners, moisturizers etc. I can stuff in my suitcase. Just recently, I have been using some of the shampoo I "picked up" from my hotel in London. Our olfactory nerve is our strongest, which is why a fragrance can so easily transport us to the past. When I use the London shampoo, the fragrance takes me back and I have an ultra-mini vacation in the shower. Seek out fragrant items when you travel next and bring them back. Rachel Herz, PhD. and author of The Scent of Desire says, "Scent becomes strongly connected to whatever you felt when you first came into contact with it." The parts of our brains that regulate smell and memory are closely related. This is why we have a signature fragrance at the spa and why all our products in
The Best Stuff line carry the same fragrance - so when you use the products at home, you will remember your spa visit and how great you felt!
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