Why Summer Can Unsettle the Nervous System
When the calendar says holiday, but the body has misplaced the instructions
August is supposed to be relaxing.
This is broadly understood, despite considerable evidence involving hot bedrooms, disrupted routines, childcare negotiations and the curious expectation that everyone should be having a lovely time.The light stretches into the evening. Meals move around. Bedtimes become theoretical. Work changes shape as colleagues vanish in carefully staggered directions.
And beneath it all, the body is adjusting.
The nervous system is remarkably adaptable, but it does appreciate a few clues about what is happening next. Sleep, light, movement, meals and social contact help it organise the day. August has a habit of gathering several of these clues, placing them in a beach bag and leaving them somewhere near Bournemouth. For some people, this loosening feels freeing. For others, it produces a less obvious strain. Tiredness without rest. Irritability without a clear cause. A sense of being both under-stimulated and slightly overwhelmed.
This does not mean summer is bad for mental health. It means that even pleasant change is still change and the body sometimes needs longer to catch up with the calendar.
When the calendar changes faster than the body
Our routines contain hundreds of small decisions that have already been made. We know roughly when to wake, eat, work, move and stop. These repeated cues are not glamorous. Nobody posts a photograph of a dependable Tuesday lunch and captions it “living my best life”. Yet predictability can be deeply regulating. When those cues disappear, freedom can become surprisingly demanding. What shall we do today? When should the children go to bed? Am I resting or procrastinating? Why am I not enjoying this more?
Heat adds another layer. A warmer bedroom can disturb sleep, poor sleep can make emotional regulation harder and a tired threat system is rarely known for its balanced committee work. It tends to reach conclusions quickly, usually while someone else is chewing too loudly. People who are autistic, have ADHD or live with anxiety, fatigue, chronic illness or sensory sensitivity may feel these shifts particularly strongly. This is not because they are failing at summer. Their systems may simply rely more heavily on stable cues, recovery time or protection from sensory load.
The compassionate question is not, “What is wrong with me?” It is, “What has changed around me, and what would help my body adjust?”
Why screens can become structure
This is one reason technology often takes on a larger role during the holidays. A familiar game, platform or online community offers rules, goals, feedback and a recognisable sequence. The person does not have to invent the next step from nothing. Online games tend to have very clear rules. Family life in August has rules too, although they may be revised without notice by a five-year-old holding an ice lolly. It is easy to see increased screen use and decide that technology is causing the problem. Sometimes it contributes. Late-night play can push sleep later. Scrolling can leave us activated rather than restored, with that ‘tired but wired’ feeling. Arguments about devices can become the main family activity, which was probably not in the holiday brochure.
But screens may also be responding to a gap that was already there.
A young person may be gaming because friends are away. A parent may be scrolling because it is the only five minutes in which nobody needs anything. Someone living with fatigue may choose a digital world because their usual activities cost more energy than they have. A gamer may log on because it is the one place where the day has shape. Before removing a behaviour, it helps to ask what job it has been doing. That question does not mean abandoning boundaries. It means choosing boundaries that respond to the actual need. If gaming is providing connection, competence or predictability, taking it away without replacing those functions may leave the person with less support and more distress.
A gentler August adjustment
The aim is not to install a perfect routine or turn the holiday into a residential productivity course. A few dependable anchors are often enough.
Keep waking and sleeping within a reasonably consistent range.
Protect one or two regular meals and some daylight earlier in the day.
Create cooler, darker conditions for sleep where possible.
Plan some open time and some predictable time.
Agree when gaming begins, rather than speaking only about when it must end.
Notice whether a digital activity leaves you restored, connected, wired or depleted.
These are not moral rules. They are signals. The body does not require an inspirational speech. It often needs lunch, a little shade and a reasonably reliable idea of what happens next.
Just One More Thing
Choose one daily anchor for the next week. It might be opening the curtains at the same time, eating before going online, stepping outside after lunch or beginning the evening wind-down before starting another game. Keep it small enough to survive a difficult day. You are not trying to win August. You are giving the nervous system one clear signal and seeing what it does with it.
Sometimes steadiness begins with less ambition and one thing that happens when we said it would.
About the Author
Dr. Richard Pomfret is a HCPC-registered Counselling Psychologist and founder of Therapy On The Hill. He works with adults experiencing a range of emotional and psychological difficulties, offering evidence-based therapy in a compassionate and collaborative way. He also has clinical experience working with gamers and families at the NHS National Centre for Gaming Disorders.
Contact
If you’d like to learn more about therapy or enquire about working together, you can contact Richard at: