6th May – 皐月
Today is the last day of Golden week. After this long holiday, some people feel melancholy – this is called 五月病 (Gogatsu Byou).
Those people who get 五月病 can have those symptoms:
-feeling depressed
-feeling sick
-do not want to go to work / school
-no appetite
-feeling tired all the time
In many cases, people who just joined the new company (April is the job starting month), transferred to the new office, assigned a new project and started new school are often the victims of 五月病.
New business / school year start in April, so newbies try to adjust the new environment. One month later, after the Golden week, those people feel less pressure and gradually realize the gap between the ideal and reality. Because of this, newbies loose their motivation and feeling depressed. It is said that the more the person is a hard worker, the higher to have a risk to become 五月病.
Things that we can do to prevent 五月病 is, we should release the stress and enjoy the hobby, exercise and keep the healthy life style (enough sleep, wake up early and eat well etc).
Little Japan Dictionary 