Did you know vacationing can increase your lifespan?
Escaping everyday stressors, even if it’s only for one day, can have a positive effect on your health.
Part of achieving a longer lifespan entails a healthy aging process.
Not taking the chance to get away from daily stress-related activities, such as road traffic and work, introduces a copious amount of negative consequences.
It can lead not only to a weakened immune system and depression, but it also elevates the risk of a heart attack, heart disease, and death.
Vacationing is one way to balance your life and enrich it with healthy activities and a positive outlook.
It can result in improved productivity and concentration, but most importantly, vacationing can increase contentment, energy, physical activity, and social engagement.
New Findings On Vacations and Lifespan
Several studies support the positive effect vacationing has on health.
Most recently, Syracuse University researchers shared their new findings with the Journal of Psychology and Health that describe the impact vacationing has on heart health.
The researchers looked at the study participants’ vacationing behaviors and frequency during the past 12 months and made an association with metabolic outcomes.
Their study examined 63 workers eligible for paid vacation and analyzed their blood samples.
The researchers found that twelve of the participants took five vacations and used weeks of their paid vacation days.
These workers shared that they weren’t bothered by the stress related to travel, childcare, or finances.
The researchers concluded from the results that the vacations protected them from metabolic syndrome and its symptoms.
Metabolic syndrome groups risk factors that can raise the chance of heart disease, a stroke, or developing type 2 diabetes.
The researchers found that the risk of this condition decreased by nearly a quarter with each additional vacation the participants took.
In other words, the more the participants vacationed, the more they reduced their risk for cardiovascular diseases.
“Because metabolic symptoms are modifiable, it means they can change or be eliminated,” shared Dr. Bryce Hruska in a Syracuse University news article.
In 2018, the results from a 40-year heart health study presented at the European Society of Cardiology showed that vacations could relieve stress and prolong life.
The researchers of the Helsinki Businessmen Study gathered 1,222 middle-aged male executives born between 1919 and 1934 to participate in the research.
The men had at least one risk for cardiovascular diseases, such as excess pounds, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glucose intolerance.
The study began in the mid-1970s. The researchers divided the men into either a control group or an intervention group.
For five years, the men in the control group carried on with their usual lifestyle while the men in the intervention group participated in several health improvement activities.
During four months, the men in the intervention group received oral and written health advice.
The recommendations included aerobic physical activity, eating a healthier diet, reducing weight, and getting rid of their smoking habit.
They received drugs to lower blood pressure and lipids when the health advice wasn’t enough.
Once the trial period ended, the intervention group nearly cut their risk of cardiovascular disease in half compared to the control group.
The researchers decided to follow up 15 years later.
However, instead of seeing continued health gains, they learned that more deaths occurred within the intervention group versus the control group.
As a result, the researchers decided to keep an eye on the mortality rate.
They followed up again in 2004 to find the death rate was still consistent.
More men died in the intervention group compared to the control group. Ten years later, the researchers decided to do one more check.
This time, the death rates were the same for both groups.
So, what happened?
Researchers point mostly to the fact that the members in the intervention group took shorter vacations.
The researchers learned that men who took three weeks or less increased their chances of dying by 37 percent from 1974 to 2004.
However, vacation time didn’t affect the control group.
The researchers realized their preventive measure missed one thing: stress management.
The lifestyle of working more hours, sleeping fewer hours, and nearly avoiding vacations overruled any intervention benefit.
America’s Vacation Habits Compared to Other Countries
American’s don’t prioritize vacations when compared to other countries.
The U.S. Travel Association shared the results of their online survey that occurred throughout January 2018.
It assessed the vacationing habits of the 4,349 respondents during the year 2017.
The participants were over the age of 18, worked 35 hours a week, and received paid time off from their employer.
The survey found that half of the workers had unused vacation days left over at the end of the year—an accumulation of 705 million unused days.
These left over days represent a $255 billion lost opportunity.
The opportunity could have created 1.9 million jobs.
One of the reasons Americans are reluctant to take time off is that they are concerned that they may appear less dedicated and replaceable.
Some respondents felt their workload was too much to take a break, or they simply didn’t have anyone to cover for them.
Costs, children, pets, and logistical hassles also were factors.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research’s (CEPR) report “No-Vacation Nation” offers further insight.
It indicates that the United States remains “the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation.
No city or state in the U.S. guarantees paid annual leave except for the US territory, Puerto Rico.”
The lack of a federal paid vacation policy means that close to one in four Americans neither have paid vacation or paid holidays.
Typical workers in the private sector may only have ten paid vacation days and six holidays within a year.
On the other hand, The European Union’s Working Time Directives allows European workers at least 20 paid vacation days a year, CEPR noted.
Some countries make it imperative to have 25 to 30 days of paid time off or additional time for employees who’ve worked with the same employer for a while; or, they have other requirements based on a worker’s age, shift work, and community service.
The U.S. Travel Association suggests that Americans’ attitudes towards vacationing are changing.
More employers are encouraging Americans to get away from work more often, and their employees are feeling more inclined to do so.
In 2019, New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio shared a plan that requires employers to provide at the minimum two-week paid vacation to their employees.
If the proposal goes through, New York City will become the first in the nation to require paid leave legally.
As more Americans become receptive to vacationing, they will experience the positive consequences of not only increasing their lifespan but also sustaining an active lifestyle.
Therefore, Americans must begin adopting a new way of thinking and make healthy decisions that go beyond dieting and exercising.
They must add social engagement and personal fulfillment to their health regimen.
