Can Taking a Vacation Lead to Better Health?

The American culture has become one that has a great focus on work. We tend to work more hours per week, more days per year, and more years per lifetime than most other cultures. Despite working all these hours, we tend to take less vacation time. Researchers and doctors have long suggested that working so much contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle. Is this true? Can taking a vacation really lead to better health?

It is no surprise that Americans work a lot. On top of that, Americans tend to not get very much vacation time and when they do, they generally do not use it all. According to a study conducted by Expedia.com, Americans get the least amount of vacation time of all the countries surveyed, earning an average of fourteen days per year. Compare that to workers of Great Britain who earn twenty-four days per year, twenty-six in Germany, thirty in Spain, and thirty-six in France. Despite earning the least amount of vacation per year, Americans are more likely to not use all of it. More than thirty-five percent of the Americans surveyed said they would not use all of their vacation. On average, they left three vacation days unused.

All of this working without time to relax leads to a great deal of stress. Stress is known to cause many adverse side effects in an individual's body. One of the major changes that takes place is an increase in blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to many serious problems such as heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Stress impairs hippocampus function, which is necessary in acquiring and maintaining new information. If the body is subjected to stress for a long period of time, it will no longer be able to maintain normal functioning. Long term stress can lead to damage such as loss of capacity of glands, primarily the adrenal gland, and impaired function of the immune system. Other changes that occur as a result of stress include ulcers, various illnesses, depression, and other mental illnesses.

At this time, it is not clear if vacations truly cause better health or if taking a vacation is merely an indicator of a healthier lifestyle. However, taking time off of work to relax clearly has both mental and physical benefits. In a 2005 study that included fifteen-hundred women, those who took vacations often were less likely to be stressed or to show signs of depression. In a separate 2000 study that included more than twelve-thousand men between the ages of 35 and 57, those who took vacations frequently had a lower risk of death than those who didn't vacation often.

Until further research is done, it cannot be conclusively said that taking vacations causes better health. However, taking vacations or at least taking time off of work to relax has both mental and physical benefits. So the next time you are getting ready to pass up an opportunity for a vacation, perhaps you should rethink. At the very least, you will have time to unwind and relax. However, you just may find that you feel healthier afterwards.

Source

Forbes

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/103348/Ten-Healthy-Reasons-To-Take-A-Vacation