What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Dan and I recently returned from a trip to St. Louis to visit our families, and several times while we were there and after we got back I was reminded of how beneficial a vacation can be. The change of scenery, the break in your routine, and the opportunity to do things and see people you don’t normally get to—well, as they say, it does a body good.

                I was curious to find out if there was any research on the health benefits of vacations, and whether there were specific factors (length of time, activity choice, etc.) that made a vacation “healthy.” Now, off the top of my head I would have told you that vacation length matters, but only to the degree that you feel like you’re getting a real break from your daily life. For me, that’s at least a full weekend. One study I found indicates that vacations 4–5 days or fewer still offer health and wellness benefits for most people (they looked at six indicators: health status, mood, fatigue, tension, energy level, and satisfaction), but the effects are shorter-lived than for longer vacations. I suppose that makes sense.

                Then I looked at whether the activities you do matter, since Dan and I have drastically different vacationing styles. Thankfully, one thing we both agree on is that not doing work while on vacation is critical. In fact, that same study I cited above notes that being able to “detach” from work will help the health and wellness benefits last longer after you return. That’s good motivation to turn on your out-of-office email message and stick to it.

Beyond that, I would say that the adage “know thyself” really comes into play. When I’m on vacation, I like to pack in the activities, to see all the people I can (multiple times, if I can swing it), and to take full advantage of the new- and different-ness of it all. That was certainly true of this trip—from baseball games to swimming, hanging out with friends we only see once or twice a year, game nights, and visiting our favorite dining establishments, we made good use of our time. Dan likes to do stuff and see people too, but it can’t be scheduled in advance, or he gets stressed out by seeing our calendar packed. And really, given the choice, he would be perfectly happy doing nothing but camping out on the beach or by the pool for a week with a few good books. Needless to say, we’ve had to learn how to compromise when we travel together! But even though research seems to back my approach (study participants who limited their passive activities while on vacation reported higher health and wellness benefits), I think Dan’s “just let me zone out for a while” attitude has merit, if for no other reason that it’s so different from his day-to-day life.