Do you put off taking a vacation because you think the office simply cannot survive without you?  Did you know that many Americans are vacation-starved?  While most Americans have access to paid vacations, many do not take all the days provided to them by their employers.  Whereas 79 percent of employees polled said they had an average of 16.6 vacation days, they only took 14.6 days.  Almost 36% of the people polled said they did not plan to take their full vacation.

Thirty-one percent of those polled that did take vacation time took it for reasons other than a true vacation.  Caring for sick children, attending funerals, medical reasons, going to school, or another job was among the reasons given for taking “vacation time.”  But, not taking time off for vacation can be damaging to your mental and physical health.  Taking time off from work for enjoyable reasons can greatly benefit your overall health.  The number one thing it does is cut down on stress.  There was a study done by Framingham Heart that said that women between the ages of 45-64 who take frequent vacations could cut their risk of death in half.  Your body needs a release from the day-to-day stress of the office.  Even just having the prospect of looking forward to a nice vacation may help reduce workplace stress.

So next time you look at your work calendar and think you cannot possibly take any time off, think about yourself, your children, and your family.  All can benefit from your taking a little time off to release the stress of work pressures.