Holidays are good for your health

It’s the height of summer and hopefully you have just been or are looking forward to going on holiday soon. If you don’t have any holiday booked, we strongly recommend you rectify that soon because, simply put, holidays are good for your health! It doesn’t matter if you take your holidays in the summer or winter, of course. It may be that you prefer to escape the darkness of winter and don’t mind staying at home and working while the weather is – hopefully – a bit better in the summer. The main thing is to take holiday and make use of your annual leave entitlements.

As mentioned, holidays are good for you and, reversely, not taking time off can be detrimental. Melissa Compton-Edwards, author of a report, Married to the Job, has said: “What should not be overlooked is that excessive hours can have a negative effect on job performance and cause costly or reputation-damaging mistakes. Fatigue-related accidents are potentially life-threatening. Employers need to ensure that they do everything in their power to improve productivity through efficiency improvements rather than by overloading their staff.”

Overworking is not good news for your home life either: “While working long hours doesn’t necessarily lead to marriage breakdown, it can put a strain on relationships with partners, children and friends,” Melissa says.

Simon Briault of the Federation of Small Businesses told the BBC, similarly, that “it is important for employees to take the time off they are entitled to. Everybody needs a break to relax and unwind. In the long run, it will be beneficial for the employee and the employer alike, because it helps to reduce ill-health and absenteeism.”

A study by Kuoni and Nuffield Health showed that holiday had an instant positive effect on health and wellbeing. Despite the fact that the sample size was not exactly representative (6 couples were studied, 3 on holiday and 3 staying at work), the findings are still interesting reading:

• The average blood pressure of the holidaymakers dropped by a beneficial six per cent
• The sleep quality of the holidaymakers improved
• The ability to recover from stress (known as the stress-resilience test) saw an average improvement of 29 per cent among holidaymakers.

The Holiday Health Experiment also found:

• Decreases in blood glucose levels, reducing risk of diabetes
• Improved body shape (losing weight around their middles) which may lower risk of heart disease and diabetes
• Improved energy levels and mood

All in all, the indication is that holidays are good for your health and you shouldn’t overlook taking time off work to unwind and re-charge. As an employer, it’s advisable to make sure your staff take their leave. It improves productivity and engagement. To make sure you’re on top of everyone’s holidays, you could use Engage holiday management tools with online leave requests and entitlement tracking.