Take A Vacation: It's Good For Your Health And The Economy

If you are thinking about taking a vacation but you’re not sure whether it’s a good idea, this is the article for you. It’s been shown that there are important benefits to taking a vacation to your overall well-being.
Billy Joel put it best: “Working too hard can give you a heart attack-ack-ack-ack…”
When it comes to taking a vacation, if you’re an American, we talk a big game, but a recent study commissioned by the US Travel Association found that Americans are throwing away $52.4 billion every year because we’re pretty willing to chain ourselves to our desks.
Oxford Economics’ analysis says:

The average American earns 21 days of PTO each year but uses only 77 percent of that time, forfeiting 4.9 days. While many employees have the option to roll over unused PTO into the next year, bank it for future use, or be paid for the unused time, one-in-four (23%) permanently lose it at the end of the year. Less than half (47%) of employees are able to roll over days into the following year and nearly a third (30%) of these employees are able to roll over five days or less.

That is only one finding in recent research on vacation time conducted by Oxford Economics, an economic analysis firm. This reluctance to go on vacation results in burnout, and saddling U.S. businesses with $224 billion in liabilities for accumulated employee vacation time.

Top 7 Reasons to Take a Vacation

Below are seven benefits that you’ll enjoy when you take a vacation.

1. An improvement in physical health

Stress often contributes to higher blood pressure and heart disease. For women and men, taking vacation at least every year can help with reducing heart attacks or heart disease.
John de Graaf, author of Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America and president of the Take Back Your Time nonprofit organization, says that not taking a regular vacation increases the risk of heart attack by 32% in men and 50% in women.

2. An improvement in mental health

It’s been discovered by neuroscientists that the structure of the brain is changed by being chronically exposed to cortisol, and this can be a huge factor when it comes to depression and anxiety. Calm feelings arise when you’re away from work and they help with relieving stress. This lets your mind and body heal.
Vacations have the potential to break into the stress cycle. We emerge from a successful vacation feeling ready to take on the world again. We gain perspective on our problems, get to relax with our families and friends, and get a break from our usual routines.

3. Greater feeling of well-being

There was a study done that shows that people who regularly took trips had a higher score on their Gallup test – 68.4 compared to 51.4 with people who didn’t travel. These numbers were still there over a month later, especially when the person had some personal satisfaction and time while away.

4. An increase in mental power

When you come home from vacation, you’ll discover that you are more productive and focused. There’s studies that have been done that show that having chronic stress can modulate the section of the brain that inhibits activity that’s goal-directed, causing issues with memory. When you take time off, it can help your brain function better.

5. An improvement in family relationships

When you spend time with your family enjoying life can help with keeping the relationships strong. There was a study done by DHS that showed that when a woman took a vacation they were happier in their marriage.
Some of the best family bonding experiences are from doing challenging things as a family on vacation. Like climbing 10,000 feet up to the top of a mountain or cliff jumping into freezing cold water or off-shore fishing.

6. A decrease in burnout

When workers take time regularly to relax, they don’t have as much trouble with burnout. This means they’re more productive and creative compared with their under-rested, overworked counterparts.
A government study found that vacations alleviated perceived job stress and burnout and that a respite from work diminishes levels of strain to lower than on-the-job levels.

7. Planning a vacation will boost happiness

Research has shown that the planning of your vacation will help with boosting happiness. You can feel its effects as far as 8 weeks prior to the trip.
According to a 2010 study published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, just planning or anticipating your trip can make you happier than actually taking it.
The study found that all vacationers experienced a significant boost in happiness during the planning stages of the trip because, as the researchers suggest, the vacationers were looking forward to the good times ahead.

Conclusion

A lot of people realize that they are happier when they take a vacation but some people don’t realize the real benefits that there are to it. So remember these benefits that you can find to having a vacation and remember to take one regularly. It will help you and your family overall.

Planning a Vacation?

After relaxing in Naples Florida, return to the beauty and comfort of a home from Naples Florida Vacation Homes. We have a wide selection of homes located all over the Naples area. Whether you’re hoping to squeeze in a few rounds of golf during your visit or you’d like to relax by a private pool, you’ll find the perfect home to fit your needs.
Check out our rentals and book today! We look forward to having you.