How To Vacation To Prolong Your Life (It’s All About Timing)

Research from the European Cardiology Society says that taking over three weeks of vacation might help you to live a longer life. The 40 year long research started out looking at the results of healthy living (like exercise, dieting, and not smoking) had on long-term risks of getting heart disease. But scientists took a new set of eyes on the data and instead found that the top sign of longevity was really stress.

At the study’s start in 1974, 1,200 men were put into groups. One was given instructions on living a “healthy” life. This was known as the intervention group. These men were then put on workout routines, given nutritional help, were aided in their efforts to stop smoking and, if needed, issued prescriptions to deal with their cholesterol and blood pressure. The second group was the control and had no help from the scientists.

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The two groups of men were watched for five years, and the risk of heart disease was lowered by 46 percent within the group that got intervention. However, when a 15-year follow-up happened 1989, researchers discovered more men inside the intervention group had passed away than men inside the control group.

New analysis found a link between the men who passed away within the intervention group that could explain this: They all had fewer or shorter vacations. Men within the intervention group who had under three weeks of yearly vacation time had a 37 percent higher likelihood of passing away between ’74 and ’04 than the men who had over three weeks vacation time.

“Don’t believe that simply having a healthy diet and exercise will protect you if you work too hard or not having holidays,” Timo Strandberg, PhD, lead author said in his press release. “Vacations are a great way to help deal with stress.”

In its 2020 report, the APA discovered that 49 percent of people said their life was negatively changed by stress. The most common symptoms were more tension and emotional problems like getting angry too fast at a loved one. Over 6 in 10 people reported having a lot of stress at work.