Skip Vacation at your Peril!
When was the last time you dipped your toes in the sand, skied the slopes, unplugged from technology and spent quality time with those you love? Decades ago, taking a vacation once or twice a year was expected. In today’s world, for too many, it doesn’t even make the list of annual to-dos.
According to an article in Business Insider, Americans do not take a vacation because they fear taking vacation leaves the impression that they are a slacker. It is the number one factor that contributes to 169 million unused vacation days and why 42% of Americans did not take a single vacation day in 2013.
The American mindset views vacation as a luxury they can’t afford, while Europeans view it as a hard-earned right. Therein, lies the first of many problems. Not only is the lack of vacation impacting us personally and professionally, it impacts society and the nation.
Skipping Vacations Greatly Impacts Personal Lives
The pro-vacation organization, Take Back Your Time, was established to change the consciousness, conversation, and culture of how Americans work and view vacations. Twenty years ago, 80 percent of families visiting Yosemite stayed overnight. Today, the average visit lasts five hours. In 1975, the U.S. Travel Association recorded that family vacations typically lasted one week versus 3.8 days in 2010.
Centerstone, a not-for-profit community-based behavioral health healthcare network, says, “Taking a vacation helps shrink stress and anxiety while boosting the mental and physical health of the entire family.”
Still need an excuse to make that reservation? How about 7 excuses?
1. Reduce Heart Disease. The Journal of the American Medical Association notes that men who take frequent annual vacations were 32 percent less likely to die from heart disease than their counterparts who forwent vacations.
“In a 20-year study, researchers found that women who took a vacation once every six years or less were almost eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a heart attack than women who took at least two vacations per year,” noted the Framingham Heart Study.
2. Decrease Stress and Depression. University of Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center found that “Leisure, including vacations, contributed to more positive emotions and fewer negative feelings and depression.”
3. Increase Happiness. Jessica de Bloom studied the effects of long (more than two weeks) vacations and found that people felt less tense and healthier while on vacation, with higher energy levels and more life satisfaction, as published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
4. Increase Length of Life by 20%. A study from the State University of New York at Oswego found that of 12,000 men (ages 35 to 57) surveyed, the ones who go on vacation every year reduce their overall risk of death by 20 percent.
5. Increase quality and connectedness in relationships. A survey conducted by Expedia found that 53 percent of respondents came back from vacation feeling closer to and more reconnected with their families.
6. Find the meaning of life. The University of Pittsburgh’s Mind-Body Center interviewed 1,399 study participants about their vacations. “People who participated in more leisure activities reported more life satisfaction [and] finding more meaning in life.”
7. There are a million places to experience. Long-term benefits of getting away can bring big rewards. Yet, sometimes, it can be difficult to even think beyond the now because we have been running on overload so long. Overwhelm prevents us from seeing the forest through the trees, and it is then that a little support can make a world of difference. After all, we work hard and we should enjoy our success both personally and professionally. Take back your vacation as a hard-earned right. You can start by dipping your toes in the sand at these 25 remote islands.