休假只能帶來短暫的解脫
The month of August, that hallowed time when Latin Europe grinds to a sunny halt, concludes with September’s good intentions to sustain the summer’s healthier habits.
神聖的8月，拉丁歐洲在明媚的陽光下進入假期，暫停很大一部分運轉。到了9月，人們紛紛抱着保持夏天更健康習慣的美好願望。
Rapidly we revert to form.
然而我們很快故態復萌。
Finnish researcher Jessica de Bloom’s analysis shows the feelings of renewal that people report after a seven-day holiday fade within one to four weeks of returning to work.
芬蘭研究員傑西卡•迪布洛姆(Jessica de Bloom)的分析顯示，人們在7天假期後報告的那種精神抖擻的感覺會在恢復工作的1至4周內消退。
A short break, concludes a Scientific American article, is like a cool shower on an oppressively muggy summer day — a refreshing yet fleeting escape.
《科學美國人》(Scientific American)一篇文章總結道，短暫的假期就像在潮溼悶熱的夏日衝一個冷水澡——提神，但只能帶來短暫的解脫。
On a continuum from the mini-sabbatical to the French month-long pause to the incredible shrinking US vacation, how much time is enough to not just recover physically but also to motivate a personal course correction?
從小長假和法國人長達一個月的假期，到美國人不可思議的越來越短的假期，休假多久才足以在恢復元氣的同時，激發人生道路的調整？
In keeping with our smarter, faster, better culture, Ms de Bloom advises meting out our allotted rest and restoration into shorter, more frequent vacations.
按照我們的更聰明、更快、更好文化，迪布洛姆建議重新安排我們的假期，調整爲更短、更頻繁的假期。
But what if we need bigger chunks of downtime to recharge our batteries fully and gain adequate mental distance from our often toxic work environments? Unfortunately, there is scant research to enlighten us.
但如果我們需要更長的假期來充足電，並與往往有毒的工作環境拉開心理距離，那該怎麼辦？遺憾的是，目前缺少這方面的研究來啓迪我們。
A 13-year study of four cohorts of investment bankers illustrates the long-term costs of ignoring our bodies’ need for respite.
一項對4組投資銀行家進行的長達13年的研究表明，忽視人體對休息的需求會帶來長期代價。
The bankers followed by Alexandra Michel, a Wharton business school professor, pushed the limits of their young bodies with impunity in their first three years as associates.
沃頓商學院(Wharton School)教授亞力山德拉•米歇爾(Alexandra Michel)跟蹤調查的這些銀行家，在剛進投行、擔任副經理的頭三年期間不要命地工作，把自己的年輕身體頻頻推到極限。
Around year four, they started to break down from overwork.
到了第4年左右，他們開始因過度工作而出現問題。
Eating disorders, tics, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression were commonplace.
常見問題是飲食失調、抽搐、睡眠障礙、焦慮以及抑鬱。
Most of them responded by pushing harder to maintain performance.
多數人的應對方式是加倍努力以保持績效。
Eighty per cent strongly agreed with the statement: I am trying harder to control my body but with less success than before.
80%的人強烈同意這個說法：我更努力地嘗試控制我的身體，但是不像以前那麼成功。
Starting at year six, 40 per cent had breakdowns so severe they were forced to stop working.
從第6年開始，40%的人頂不住，他們的問題如此嚴重，以至於被迫停止工作。
Responses to the breakdowns fell into two camps.
這些銀行家對身體故障的反應分爲兩種。
One group treated their bodies as antagonists, escalating efforts to exert control.
一組人把自己的身體當成對抗者，需要加大努力勝過它。
They talked about letting your body know who is in charge and submitted to extreme regimes such as lemon-juice only cleanses and boot-camp training.
他們會說讓你的身體知道誰纔是主人，並採取各種極端對策，如檸檬汁淨化療法和集訓式訓練。
A second group learnt to treat their bodies as insightful advisers, heeding even subtle signs such as low energy as cues: I learnt to differentiate between being tired and drained.
第二組人學着把自己的身體視爲有洞察力的顧問，會留意到精神不振等細微跡象，將其視爲線索：我學會了區分疲勞和筋疲力盡。
When I am drained, my body says that something isn’t right and I stop and try to figure it out, said one in this camp.
當我筋疲力盡時，我的身體會提醒我有什麼地方不對勁，我會停下來試着找到原因，該組的一位銀行家表示。
The longer intermissions their maladies imposed allowed them to step back for long enough to recognise and reject their companies’ unwritten rules.
疾病帶來的較長的間歇期讓他們後退一步，認識到——並拒絕——公司的潛規則。
Once your body forces you to stop certain behaviour, you ask why you engaged in them and whether there are alternatives, said one director.
一名總監稱，一旦你的身體迫使你停止某種行爲，你會問自己爲何要那麼拼命工作、有沒有替代選擇。
As Prof Michel followed her participants into new and different careers at middle age, from the ninth to the 13th year of the study, she also found that avoiding unsustainable work habits takes more than changing jobs or even occupations.
隨着研究進入第9至13年，米歇爾教授跟隨步入中年的參與者進入了全新的職業，她發現，難以爲繼的工作習慣不是跳槽或者改行就能克服的。
Many of them relapsed after moving into organisations that were supposedly less work intensive.
在進入工作強度理應較小的組織後，他們中的多數人舊病復發了。
Even among those who had learnt to treat their bodies as insightful advisers, a significant number experienced a second breakdown within the first year at their new jobs.
即使是那些已經學會把身體視爲有洞察力顧問的人，也有相當一部分人在進入新工作後的第一年內經歷第二次崩潰。
Not only had they chosen similarly demanding positions but, still weakened from their tenure at the banks, they also failed to take sufficient time in between roles to convalesce and gain psychological distance from their hard-driving selves.
他們不僅選擇了類似的高要求職位，而且，在仍然因爲在銀行的工作而身體虛弱的時候，未能在角色轉換期花足夠時間修整，並從心理上遠離要強的自我。
Needless to say, they also intensified the pace of work for everyone else, role-modelling behaviours they were then forced to sustain.
不用說，他們把別人的工作節奏也搞得緊張兮兮，而他們自己隨後被迫維持榜樣行爲。
A spate of neurological studies show that downtime is not only crucial for replenishing the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, but also for sustaining the cognitive processes that make us human.
大量神經學研究表明，休假不僅對大腦恢復注意力和積極性至關重要，而且對維持使我們具有人性的認知過程不可或缺。
The time to think so many of us naively pine for allows us to consolidate memories, integrate what we have learnt, plan for the future, maintain our moral compass and construct a sense of self.
我們許多人出於本能渴望的思考時間使我們得以鞏固記憶、整合我們所學的知識、規劃未來、恪守我們的道德指南針，並構建自我意識。
The popularity of sabbaticals and adult gap-years is but one indication of our desire for respite.
長假和成年人間隙年受到追捧，是我們渴望喘息的一個跡象。
Yet, people cram them full of languages to learn and mountains to trek in a manic attempt to increase the yield on our decreasing amount of leisure time, while their organisations claw back time at the front and back end of a hard-negotiated, and often too-short, time period.
不過，人們給這樣的假期塞滿了需要學習的外語和需要翻越的高山，瘋狂地試圖充分利用日益縮短的休閒時光，而他們所在的組織在這個艱難談判得到的、往往太短暫的休假期的前後分派更多任務，使實際假期更加短暫。
Still, for those of us who need it most, withdrawal from the fray is rarely voluntary.
話雖如此，對於那些最需要休假的人來說，退出職場打拼很少是自願的。
More often than not our recalcitrant bodies drag us into repose.
在更多情況下，不再聽話的身體會迫使我們休息。
Maybe it is time to give the way we work a rest.
或許是時候讓我們的工作方式休息一下了。
