how to actually rest over Christmas

It’s November, you’re exhausted and there’s still a month to go.

The end-of-year stretch is one of the most reliably draining periods in the working calendar, not just because of workload, but because of what it asks of you. The push to close things out before Christmas. The social commitments increase up alongside the professional ones. The low-grade pressure to make the holidays meaningful while also just trying to get through them.

And then January arrives, and a lot of people find they don’t feel rested at all. They feel like they need another holiday to recover from the last one.

Here’s why that happens and what actually helps.

Why the break often doesn’t feel like a break

The research on recovery from work stress is fairly consistent: it takes longer than most people expect, and the conditions that allow genuine recovery are specific. A few things get in the way.

• The first few days are decompression, not rest. Most people need somewhere between two and four days before their nervous system actually starts to downshift from work mode. If your break is only a week, you’ve used half of it just arriving at your “restination”. This is just physiology. The stress response that keeps you alert and productive during a demanding period doesn’t switch off the moment you close your laptop.
• Busyness doesn’t become restfulness just because it’s different busyness. Travelling with young children, hosting relatives, managing Christmas logistics, are things people look forward to and they’re worth doing. But they’re not the same as genuine downtime. If your holiday is structured around doing things for other people from morning to night, you will come back tired. Rest requires some deliberate carving out of time, not just a change of scenery.
• Work doesn’t fully stop for most people. Even for employees who technically disconnect, the mental load of work persists. The problem you haven’t solved yet or the thing you said you’d deal with in January. The ambient awareness of what’s waiting is sometimes called “cognitive residue”, and it’s one of the main reasons people arrive at a holiday technically off work but aren’t actually switching off.
• January return anxiety starts early. For many people, the dread of going back begins well before the break ends. In the UK, this is compounded by the season itself: the short days, low light and cold of December and January are independently draining. The combination of post-holiday re-entry and mid-winter conditions is one of the reasons January can feel particularly hard. Acknowledging that is a useful starting point.

What actually helps you to switch off

Give yourself the first two to three days to do nothing useful

Not because you’ve earned it (though you have) but because you need that time just to arrive. Don’t schedule anything demanding in the first days of your break. Let the decompression happen before you try to fill the time with things you’ve been meaning to do.

Create at least one genuine pocket of unstructured time every day

Not structured leisure, not an activity, not a plan; simply time where nothing is required of you and nothing is being produced. Think of a long walk without a podcast, sitting outside with a cup of tea, reading something that has nothing to do with anything. This kind of low-stimulation, low-obligation time is what is genuinely restorative, not the activities people tend to think of as relaxing.

Actually disconnect from work, structure-based not willpower 

Psychological detachment from work during time off is one of the strongest predictors of recovery. The employees who come back most restored are the ones who genuinely stopped thinking about work, not the ones who tried to and failed. Even if you feel like you have the best discipline in the world, willpower is a weak tool here. Structure works better to disconnect so remove work email from your phone for the break, set an out-of-office, ask a colleague who is still working to cover anything urgent. Set it up so that engaging with work requires active effort, not just not resisting temptation.

Name the thing that’s going to follow you in

If there’s a specific work problem or anxiety that you know is going to follow you through the break, spend fifteen minutes before you finish work to write it down including what it is, what you know about it and what you’ll do about it in January. Externalising the anxiety gives your brain permission to let it go. Trying to hold it in memory while also pretending it’s not there is what makes it intrusive.

Take your annual leave

If you have leave accrued and haven’t used it, the Christmas period is the obvious moment. A longer break genuinely produces better recovery than a short one. If your employer doesn’t close over Christmas and you’re not sure whether to book leave, the answer is almost always yes.

January will be alright 

Some of the best thinking on career and development tends to happen in January, when the new year creates a natural moment of reflection. 

For now, though: you’ve worked hard, the break is coming, the goal is to actually take it.

The information in this article is current as at 21 October, and has been prepared by Employment Hero UK Ltd and its affiliates (Employment Hero). The views expressed in this article are general information only, are provided in good faith to assist employers and their employees, and should not be relied on as professional advice. Some information is based on data supplied by third parties. While such data is believed to be accurate, it has not been independently verified and no warranties are given that it is complete, accurate, up to date or fit for the purpose for which it is required. Employment Hero does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracy in such data and is not liable for any loss or damages arising directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on, use of or inability to use any information provided in this article. You should undertake your own research and seek professional advice before making any decisions or relying on the information in this article.