Vacations - Recuperation Vs Exhaustion

Sure, vacations can be hazardous to your health:found. That survey found Europeans also give up
Beachgoers get sunburned, campers get poisona few vacation days but have more to squander:
ivy, air travelers get headaches. But stay home,26 in Great Britain, 33 in Italy and 37 in France.
as record numbers may be doing this summer,The vacation gap has been proposed as one
and your health could suffer much more.reason Americans are not as healthy as
"Vacation deprivation," as it has been dubbed byEuropeans.
Expedia.com, has been spreading for years asWhy vacation might have that power is not clear.
Americans' vacations get shorter or are skippedBut studies do show "people walk more, they
entirely. But this year's high travel costs, flyingwatch TV less, they read more and they talk to
hassles and spooky economy may be creating aeach other more" while on a trip, Godbey says.
"perfect storm" that keeps people hunkeredSome eat better, too. And vacationers literally
down as never before, says Geoffrey Godbey,slow down: They stroll along the golf course
professor emeritus in the Department ofinstead of racing through it; they stop and taste
Recreation, Park and Tourism Management atthe berries at a fruit stand instead of rushing
Pennsylvania State University.through a supermarket.
(Even before the summer of $4-a-gallon gasStudies have to yet to show how long a vacation
arrived, a record-low 39% of Americans said inmust be to boost=2 0health. Also unknown: the
April that they planned a vacation trip in the nextbenefits of a "staycation," in which people take
six months, says the non-profit Conferencetime off at home. "The idea makes me cringe,"
Board.)Robinson says. "If you stay home, it's not a
The possible health toll:oMore heart disease andvacation."
death. Middle-aged men who were at high risk ofCathy McCarty, the researcher who led the study
heart disease were 20% less likely to die of anyof rural Wisconsin women, isn't so sure. One
ca use and 50% less likely to die of a heartfriend, she says, takes off one week each
attack over nine years if they took frequentsummer just to garden. "That's absolutely a
vacations, a study published in 2000 in the journalvacation for him." She is more worried about the
Psychosomatic Medicine found.oPoorer sleep.20% of women in her study who had no vacation
People not only sleep better during vacations, butin six years.
they also keep sleeping=2 0better afterward,Godbey says he just hopes people with tight
some studies show.oMore tension, depression,budgets will consider low-cost options - such as
fatigue and marital strain, at least for women,Tours to Africa or Mexico to beat the high euro-
according to one study of 1,500 women in ruralbefore staying home this summer: "The people
Wisconsin, published in 2005 by researchers fromwho need a vacation most may be most likely to
the Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic.cancel."
"Vacation is not a frill," says Joe Robinson, a lifeHave a travel question or story? E-mail Please
coach and author who founded Work to Live, ainclude your name, city and phone number.
group that advocates for more leisure time.Selected questions will be answered and stories
But one in four American workers get no paidpublished online.
holidays or vacation time, a 2007 study from theREADERS: When was the last time you took a
Center for Economic and Policy Research showed.vacation? Do you think time off is a matter of
The average worker gets 14 paid days off butphysical or mental health? Share your views and
works three of those days, an Expedia surveyexperiences below.