Vacations can actually help you to live longer, finds study

Now you have a concrete reason to go on a nice long healing holiday. According to the findings of a 40-year study, taking vacations could prolong life. We suggest you pack your bags as you read this.

As you scroll down your Instagram feed, you are going to find at least 3 of your acquaintances going for a vacation. These could be your friends, relatives or colleagues. And most often you will find yourself wanting to be in that vacation spot, at that moment. But if you thought that it is a waste of money, read this- Vacationing have a host of health benefits too.

Yes, according to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging, going for vacations could help you live longer. Professor Timo Strandberg, one of the researchers said, "Don't think to have an otherwise healthy lifestyle will compensate for working too hard and not taking holidays. Vacations can be a good way to relieve stress."

Professor Strandberg noted that stress management was not part of preventive medicine in the 1970s but is now recommended for individuals with, or at risk of, cardiovascular disease.

The study included 1,222 middle-aged male executives born between 1919 and 1934 and recruited into the Helsinki Businessmen Study in 1974 and 1975. Participants had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease (smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, glucose intolerance, overweight).

Participants were randomised into a control group (610 men) or an intervention group (612 men) for five years. The intervention group received oral and written advice every four months to do an aerobic physical activity, eat a healthy diet, achieve a healthy weight, and stop smoking.

When health advice alone was not effective, men in the intervention group also received drugs recommended at that time to lower blood pressure (beta-blockers and diuretics) and lipids (clofibrate and probucol). Men in the control group received usual healthcare and were not seen by the investigators.

Various studies in the past have also reported that taking regular vacations could help in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases by 46 per cent.

Shorter vacations were associated with excess deaths in the intervention group. In the intervention group, men who took three weeks or less annual vacation had a 37% greater chance of dying between 1974 to 2004 than those who took more than three weeks. Vacation time had no impact on risk of death in the control group.

Strandberg said, "The harm caused by the intensive lifestyle regime was concentrated in a subgroup of men with shorter yearly vacation time. In our study, men with shorter vacations worked more and slept less than those who took longer vacations. This stressful lifestyle may have overruled any benefit of the intervention. We think the intervention itself may also have had an adverse psychological effect on these men by adding stress to their lives."

According to Strandberg, the results of the study do not indicate that health education is harmful. Rather, they suggest that stress reduction is an essential part of programmes aimed at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle advice should be wisely combined with modern drug treatment to prevent cardiovascular events in high-risk individuals.

(With inputs from ANI)