Leave it to the social scientists to prove the obvious. According to a headline in the Washington Post, “Surveys find that the vacation glow vanishes once we return to everyday life.”

This is no news to me. Having returned just a few weeks ago from a restorative trip to the high desert of New Mexico, I can affirm that the inner calm I felt in the mountains faded even more quickly than my tan as soon as I returned to sea level. Still, it’s nice to have hard data to validate personal experience.

In separate studies conducted in the Netherlands and in Australia (where—get out your tiny violins– the researcher studied vacationers on the Great Barrier Reef), the academics found that the first few days of a trip can cause aches, pains, and general malaise—symptoms of “leisure sickness”–in work-addicted professionals who can’t relax. After a few days, most people feel much better, and by the end of the vacation, they’re really into the groove.

Then comes the crash. Back to the old routine and in less than a week . . . poof! It’s like the getaway never happened.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks contemplating this phenomenon because I want to recapture that vacation state of mind. And I think it’s possible.  I’ll tell you how later.