Back to work: 5 ways to ease the ‘Bank Holiday hangover’

If you’re back to work tomorrow after a lovely long weekend with the kids, here are five ways to ease that ‘Bank Holiday hangover’.

1. Breathe in, open your inbox Then breathe out and control that impulse to try to reply instantly to everything. Take it from one who knows a thing or two about misreading email in the heat of post-long weekend panic! If you don’t already do it, make folders in your Inbox. Separate the mail you need to answer now (or by lunchtime, say) and the messages that can wait until later. 2. Don’t start the diet Tempting as it is to dive straight into a diet or detox after a weekend of over-indulgence, don’t go cold turkey on your first day back at work. We know that procrastinating is the devil’s work, but in this case, ask yourself if you really have to add sugar withdrawal to your list of woes. Get day one down first. You can buy chia seeds on the way home and start the healthy eating regime tomorrow. 3. Be smug, you’re summer ready Remember you’re now one step ahead in the ‘summer ready’ stakes because you’ve had a little extra time to perfect your bare legs and (fake) tan. Keep that in mind when your boss dumps yet another backlog file on your desk. 4. Relive the moment Use any spare time during your working day for a sneaky peek at your weekend photos and videos. On your lunch break, why not head to a chemist or photo shop where you can get prints, or order them online. The kids can make a photo board on the weekend. 5. Look forward Don’t listen to the office moaners who, by now, will be saying 'well, that was our summer’. Leaving the weather aside, the August Bank Holiday is just around the corner...