Vacationing May Be the 'Healthy' Thing to Do

Many Americans don't take the vacation days they have earned, for a variety of reasons. For one, they want to be seen as hard-working- and some people are concerned that their jobs may not be there when they return. Lately, the high cost of travel has added to the temptation to forego a vacation as well. The Conference Board reported last April that only 39 percent of U.S. workers surveyed were planning a getaway in the next six months, the lowest number since 1978. Other studies have found that as many as a third of employed Americans do not take all of the vacation days they are given.

Perhaps we should stop thinking of vacations as a luxury we can do without. There's growing evidence that getting away from our daily routine is good for our health.

The Framingham (Massachusetts) Heart Study found that, over the course of 20 years, women who took at least two vacations a year were eight times less likely to develop heart disease or have a heart attack than women who took a vacation once every six years or less. This study was controlled for factors such as obesity, diabetes, smoking and income, and its findings have been substantiated in follow-up research.

Another study, published in 2000, looked at 12,000 men over nine years who were at high risk for heart disease. The men who did not take annual vacations had a 32 percent higher risk of a heart attack and 21 percent higher risk of death from all causes over the nine- year period.

"But how can I enjoy a vacation when I have a lot to work to do?" you might ask. Or "I can't afford the high cost (and frustrations) of travel these days."

The trick is to get a change of venue, not go somewhere exotic or expensive. To put it another way, if you're lying on the Italian Riviera hooked up to your BlackBerry or constantly rushing to the nearest Internet cafe to check your e-mail, you'll miss the real benefits of a vacation.

Vacations really do help us unwind, relax and sleep better, says consultant Mark Rosekind, who has worked with pilots and NASA astronauts on sleep issues.

In his research, Rosekind has found that people averaged one hour or more of good-quality sleep (as well as improved reaction time) after a few days on vacation, and they continued to sleep more (by almost an hour) after they got home.

Of course, getting away from it all can also be stressful, especially if you're travelling with young children. So it helps to remember another huge plus of family vacations. They have been found to create more, and deeper, memories than any other family activity.

Copyright Work and Family Life Sep 2008

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