From better sleep to a stronger heart, holidays may be the healthiest habit you can form. Photo / 123RF
Data shows that getting away can boost your health, happiness and love life.
Holidays can sometimes seem like more trouble than they’re worth when you come home to a full inbox and a fire hose of problems requiring immediate attention.
But people who skip holidays may be missing out on important health benefits, according to a growing body of research linking regular getaways to everything from better heart health to a lower risk of metabolic disorders and even a longer life. A 2025 review of 32 previous studies in the Journal of Applied Psychology also found that the immediate effects on wellbeing are more profound and long-lasting than previously thought.
Among the findings in one longitudinal study that followed more than 12,000 men at high risk of coronary heart disease: those who took a holiday every year over a nine-year period reduced their overall risk of death by about 20% and their risk of death from heart disease by as much as 30%, according to the study’s main author, Brooks B. Gump, a professor of public health at Syracuse University, who studies the health effects of taking holidays.
In other research, Gump and his colleagues found a similar connection between the frequency of holidays and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions – high blood pressure, high blood sugar, a large waist circumference, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol and high triglycerides – that raise the risk of heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Each additional holiday the participants took lowered the risk of metabolic syndrome by nearly 25%.
Other researchers have identified links between taking holidays and fewer stress-related physical complaints, lower levels of exhaustion and depression, and greater happiness and wellbeing.
Even short breaks have health payoffs. When middle managers were assigned to either take a four-day holiday or take time off at home, those who left town reported greater positive effects on stress and wellbeing, according to researchers at Austria’s University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology. And unlike a tan line, the holiday “afterglow” continued for as long as 45 days post- holiday.
Not surprisingly, holidays may also help pay down a sleep debt, long associated with a greater risk of obesity and diabetes, a 2022 study in Nature Human Behaviour suggests. Researchers relied on data collected from Sony SmartBands worn by some 20,000 people, covering 218,000 nights of travel, some of which may have been for business. Among the travellers, people who were sleep-deprived – sleeping less than 7.5 hours a night – clocked more hours of sleep when they were away from home. (People who typically got more than 7.5 hours nightly tended to sleep less well on the road.)
“My guess is that if someone doesn’t sleep a lot at home, then sleeping someplace new might be an opportunity to catch up,” said study co-author Sune Lehmann, professor of social data science at the University of Copenhagen. People who usually sleep well may miss the routines that help them doze off at home, he said.
A 2024 study by American and Dutch researchers found that couples who take holidays that involve novel, interesting or challenging experiences keep the romantic spark in their relationships, resulting in more physical intimacy afterward.
“Passion can fade even in good relationships,” said study author John K. Coffey, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University. “But the more new experiences couples had during their vacation, the greater their passion and physical intimacy were after the vacation.”
The key, he said, is to engage in activities that satisfy the innate need to learn and grow, a concept known as self-expansion. You don’t have to “go big” with an expensive adventure, he said. Exploring a new city, visiting a museum or trying different cuisines can make a difference. Even bad experiences like getting lost or missing a connection can bring you closer. Coffey acknowledged that other factors could account for the intimacy boost. Having the leisure and wealth to travel in the first place might reduce a couple’s stress, leading to a better sex life.
More than the immediate rewards, “vacations provide a buffer against chronic stress and inflammation – both of which wreak havoc on the body,” said Gump. Vacationing turns off the spigot of stress hormones like cortisol and allows the body to reset, restoring equilibrium, he said.
With a total break from work, “you regain lost psychological resources like energy and positive mood and emotions,” said Ryan Grant, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia and lead author of the holiday aftereffects review study. holidays that involve physical activity and socialising with family or friends can be particularly good, he said, since both have been shown to improve health outcomes.
To ensure your holiday packs the maximum wellness punch, experts provided these tips:
“During the vacation itself, it is key that [you] mentally disconnect from work as much as possible,” Grant said. Limit the time you spend taking work calls or answering email to once a day or less. This season of the TV series The White Lotus provides a perfect example of how not disconnecting can be very bad for you.
Grant’s meta-analysis found that engaging in physical activity during holiday was the top predictor of better health outcomes later. (Social activity was the second most important factor.)
If it’s hard to get away for a single long holiday, schedule several short ones. Wellness benefits accrue regardless of a holidays’s length, research has shown (though you may get a bigger boost the longer you are away). Some data suggests these benefits are less seen among people with high-stress jobs, however.
Jessica de Bloom, a professor of psychology and public health at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who has led several studies investigating the effects of holidays on wellbeing, says this can be very helpful to health. Picture the whitecaps or perfect waves from when you were taking surfing lessons in Puerto Rico. Or try to duplicate the indescribable mole you tasted in Oaxaca, Mexico, and feel the pleasure and delight rush back, or remember the warm wind from an hour-long bike ride you took. “Keeping a vacation diary or talking about the top three experiences of the vacation may help people to attend to and appreciate the positive vacation experience more,” de Bloom said.
Regardless of the setting or circumstances, Grant said, it’s the breaking up of intense periods of work with long periods of rest and recovery that makes the difference to health and wellbeing. “We need vacations to take care of ourselves,” he said.
Charlie Davies-Carr is now 19, studies law and hasn't bitten any fingers 'in a long time'.