Why Vacation?

It seems rather silly to even have to talk about this, but the depressing truth is that we, as a nation, don't vacation. In fact, we don't even think it's important! For those of us who grew up with parents who didn't see the value in spending time together on vacation, we, mistakenly, believe that vacations are frivolous, too expensive, a waste of time and money. But studies are finding some alarming trends to the way we see the world. Here's the research on vacation, depression, and heart disease: • One 2005 study from the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin found that women who don't take regular vacations were two to three times more likely to be depressed compared to women who take regular vacations. • Another study followed 12,338 men for nine years -- and found that men who didn't take annual vacations had 32% higher risk of death from heart attack and 21% higher risk of death from all causes. • One study analyzed surveys completed by women enrolled in the 20-year Framingham Heart Study. Researchers found an eight times higher risk of heart attack and death among women who rarely took vacations (every six years or less) -- compared to women who took at least one vacation every two to five years. "Vacations are not trivial," says Frank Farley, PhD, a leading clinical psychologist, professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, and former president of the American Psychological Association. "In this workaholic America, we have to treat them as precious stuff ... keep alive the good feelings and relaxing times." A growing body of research suggests the American trend toward skipping vacations is hazardous. In a nine-year study of 12,000 middle-age men at risk for coronary disease, researchers found those who failed to take vacations had a higher risk of death from any cause, but particularly from heart disease, than those who took regular vacations. A lack of vacations was a predictor of heart attacks and early death among 749 women studied over 20 years, says a landmark study published a decade ago in the American Journal of Epidemiology. And employees of a manufacturing company reported fewer physical complaints for up to five weeks after a two-week vacation, says a study published in 2000 in the Journal Occupational Medicine. Researchers say good vacations have a power that extends beyond the time you're away. Sarah Knox, a stress researcher at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, says that just as chronic stress tears down the body's ability to calm down from higher blood pressure and heart rate, vacations may give rise to the opposite dynamic, creating a metabolic rebuilding process.