6 Reasons You Need a Vacation (Really)

We all want a vacation. But did you know that taking a holiday can not only increase your happiness while away, but make you more productive, more creative, and physically fitter in the long-term?

The truth is that a lot of us actually need a vacation.

Here are 6 reasons you should book a holiday today.

1. Reduce Stress Levels

Of course lying on a beach and getting away from daily stressors reduces stress levels. But studies show that 80% of workers are stressed on the job and 70% of trips to a healthcare provided are for stress-related symptoms. Stress can lead to overeating, smoking, and job strain has even been linked to a serious risk in coronary disease. Taking a holiday resets that stress barometer and improves physical health along with psychological health.

2. Get Happier

The Marshfield Clinic conducted a study with 1,500 women in rural Wisconsin and found that those women who vacationed less often than once every two years were much more likely to suffer from depression than those who went on holidays at least twice a year. The fact is that happiness is not just for holidays. Holidays actually help you to sustain that happiness.

3. Find Inspiration (and Monetize It)

Whether you’re an accountant, a copywriter, or an entrepreneur, holidays allow you the time and space to find new perspective. That hike up a mountain may inspire you to look at a product development road map differently. That couple you met while out for dinner in a new city might clue you into a new way of interacting with co-workers or clients. Changing location can drastically shift the way you look at the world, tackle problems, and, ultimately, make you more money.

4. Strengthen Relationships

Whether you’re taking a holiday with a partner, friends, or family, putting your relationship into a new space and exploring new activities is bound to bring you closer. In the case of couples, a survey by the US Travel Association discovered that 28% of couples reported a great improvement in their sex lives after traveling together. A massive 40% of couples reported a permanent improvement in their sex lives after traveling together. And taking a holiday solo can strengthen relationships by giving you time to reflect on your solo goals and give you stories to bring back home.

5. Find Some Brain Space

“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets,” wrote Tim Kreider in an article in The New York Times. This is particularly true when work is never really over and we get emails and texts to our iPhones even when we’re not at work. Taking the space and time to shut the phone off and indulge in a luxurious weekend (or week) away can actually free up our headspace to start thinking smarter, not harder.

6. Be More Productive

It’s counter-intuitive, but taking time off can actually improve productivity. This article in the New York Times stated, “The importance of restoration is rooted in our physiology. Human beings aren’t designed to expend energy continuously. Rather, we’re meant to pulse between spending and recovering energy.” If you’re spending energy you don’t have, your body, your mind, your emotional state, your colleagues, and your clients aren’t living up to their full potential.

In short, take a holiday. You don’t just deserve it; your body needs us.

What’s the most restful holiday you’ve taken? Comment below and let us know!