So you’ve just returned from a two week break. Sun, sandals and siestas – it was like paradise. But within five minutes of getting back to work, it feels as if you’d never been away.

Staring at an overflowing in-tray and 200 unread emails, it’s hardly surprising that the holiday afterglow is fading faster than your suntan.

Research confirms that post-holiday blues is common. Within a week of getting back to the grind, surveys show that most of us are just as stressed and worn out as we were before. It’s not always possible to avoid the slump, or fix your job, but there are still great many reasons why we should never stop taking the time to stop.

Because, for all of our complaining, we Brits do very well for holidays. UK workers are entitled to over a month’s holiday each year (28 days statutory leave plus eight bank holidays). In fact, we do so well that there are only five other countries in the world that get as much time off as we do. A quick glance across the Atlantic shows us how bad things could be – our American cousins have no legal holiday entitlement whatsoever and take fewer vacation days than any other developed country. They also suffer some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and work-related stress in the world. What a funny coincidence.

Yes, we’ve all had our fair share of bad holiday experiences – dodgy tummies, rowing relatives and irritating travel reps – but in the main, time out from work makes for good therapy.

Stopping work for several days improves mood, enhances wellbeing and helps to restore normal sleeping patterns (clubbing holidays to Ibiza excluded). Evidence also shows that refusing to take a break from a stressful job truly wreaks havoc with the body, increasing the chances of heart, digestive and fertility problems. And even our minds work better after some timeout: problem solving and productivity are given a boost, making us more effective workers for when we return.

Holidays are good then, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that three weeks in Tahiti will improve your life any more than three days in Totnes.

Providing you are relaxing and enjoying yourself (and not working) what you do seems to make little difference. Skiing, sunbathing or sauntering through an art gallery – all seem to be equally worthwhile.

But here’s the real kicker: even short, frugal holidays give you a lift that is almost identical to long, expensive ones. Or to put it another way, the post-holiday slump comes on quickly, regardless of how long you take off.

Bankrupting yourself, then, is definitely no way to prevent the post-holiday blues. Research tells us that having recreational activities in our home life offer us the best chance of enjoying the holiday feel-good longer. And given that holiday after-effects are so short-lived, researcher Dr Jessica de Blooms gives us her best advice of all and tells us that “we should go on a vacation more frequently in order to keep our levels of health and well-being high.”

Shorter, more frequent holidays? What a great take home message.