WASHINGTON, May 31 (UPI) -- As Americans fight highway traffic and flood crowded vacation destinations this summer, they could be improving their health.
In spite of the stress that summer vacations can sometimes cause, taking vacations is increasingly linked with healthy lifestyles, according to Dr. Mel Borins.
Borins, author of "Go Away: Just for the Health of It," encourages people to take as much time for vacations as possible.
"Taking a vacation is one of the best ways I know to break the pattern of daily stress," Borins said. As a practicing physician and professor at the University of Toronto School of Medicine, Borins has seen countless cases of the positive effects of vacations on health.
"A great majority of people [returning from vacations] report feeling rejuvenated," he said.
The anecdotal evidence Borins presents in his book is backed up by medical research.
"Vacations may not only be enjoyable but also health promoting," according to a study by Brooks Gump and Karen Matthews, professors of psychology and psychiatry respectively, published in 2000 by "Psychosomatic Medicine." The study examined data from a nine-year trial of middle-aged men who were at high risk for heart disease.
Gump and Matthews found that men who took frequent vacations were more likely to live longer than those who didn't.
Elaine Eaker, a doctor and president of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises in Chili, Wisconsin, said there is increasing evidence that social, cultural and psychological factors affect people's physical health.
"There is certainly a body of evidence that has been building over the years," she said, including her work on the Framingham Heart Study, a groundbreaking study of heart disease which began in 1948.
Eaker's 1992 follow-up study of Framingham subjects showed that women who vacationed regularly were less likely to suffer heart attacks or die from coronary disease that those who rarely vacationed.
Eaker cautioned that no studies have conclusively linked vacations to better health, although "the picture is becoming clearer," she said.
For Borins, reducing stress through vacationing is vital to anyone who wants to live a longer, healthier life.
"It's a crisis in the United States," Borins said of increasing working hours and shrinking vacations.
But taking vacations is not always easy for Americans. The United States is the only developed nation in the world that does not guarantee citizens paid vacation leave. Most European countries require employers to provide workers with five weeks paid vacation each year.
Joe Robinson is trying to tackle this discrepancy through social activism. Robinson is the author of "Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life," and is leading a campaign to institute a mandatory minimum vacation law in the United States.
"Burnout leaves people shells of themselves--unproductive," Robinson said of what he calls the growing problem of Americans overworking themselves.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 percent of Americans working in the private sector did not receive any paid vacation in 2003.
But employers often have a hard time getting workers to use the vacation time they have, said Mary Tavarozzi of Towers Perrin, a human resources consulting firm.
"[Employers] want people to take their time off so they are rejuvenated," said Tavarozzi, who heads Towers Perrin's absence and disability consulting arm.
Tavarozzi said companies are moving toward more flexible leave policies rather than the traditional practice of separate days off for vacation, sickness and holidays.
The concept is called a paid time-off bank, which lumps all leave days into a single category to be used at the employee's discretion. The result in some cases would be a total number of leave days that match the generous vacation policies of the European model, Tavarozzi said.
But small businesses may have a hard time offering weeks of leave time to workers.
"They don't know how to do vacations," Robinson said of small business owners. This can be addressed with more cross-training and a little planning, he said.
Borins agrees that a little ingenuity could go a long way toward increasing vacation time for American workers.
"Countries like France and Germany and Sweden don't seem to fall apart because they take five weeks vacation a year," he said.
So how should Americans spend what vacation days they have?
"The more vacations the better, the longer the vacations the better," Borins said, citing research that vacations of 10 days or more are most effective at reducing stress levels.
"Sometimes it takes two or three days just to leave the world behind," he said.
But for workers who cannot afford to take long vacations, even short ones can be rejuvenating, Borins said.
"Money is a big factor, yet there are very cheap ways to travel and get away," Borins said, citing camping and bus trips as inexpensive travel alternatives.
Robinson said workers can often negotiate for more vacation time. The key is convincing employers that a well-rested employee is ultimately more productive.
"Creativity, ingenuity, and innovation come from free time, not from straining yourself," he said.
