VACATIONS AND HEALTH
Author: Dr. Ramon Figuera MD, Head Doctor Cap Cana Medical Dispensary
Vacations are a period of time that allows you not only to rest from work but also from the daily routine, so it will not be wasted time. This rest can affect our health not only physically but also mentally, which would allow us to have a better quality of life and a better performance in our work. So, vacations are an obligation or a necessity? . either way it is definitely a must!!! Since not only would it allow us a better performance and productivity but it also helps us improve our health. However, for vacations to have real effectiveness there must be total disconnection from work.
If we are going to review the scientific studies carried out we will find many references of the benefits of vacations as for example the fact that taking a time of Rest reduces the risk of death by a cardiac affection 30% according to a study carried out in the University of Boston and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
According to Joe Robinson author of the book, “Work to Live”, speaker and trainer of work and life issues, “we are energy machines, we must replace the energy we consume”.
An important and different approach is given by the doctors Leaf Van Boven and Laurence Ashworth of the Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, who discovered that since future events are more uncertain than those of the past, looking forward to taking your vacations ” can be more exciting than seeing those events in hindsight. “
That is to say that just waiting and starting to plan a vacation, even if you do not take it, can improve your mood. While planning a trip, the expectations of pleasure that each destination entails releases enormous amounts of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter also known as the happiness hormone. So much so that, sometimes, the greatest pleasure of the trip is to organize it.
When one is permanently active and under pressure, stress hormones can be triggered, which can affect health. Depending on the person, this can result in more colds, headaches and more frequent illnesses. When you relax, sleep and eat properly, it helps your health recover its balance.
A group of researchers from the University of California has developed a study, published in Traslational Psychiatry, which highlights the bodily processes affected by the vacation break. They were able to verify that all the volunteers had experienced significant improvements in the levels of stress and in the functioning of the immune system, that is to say, they improved their organic defenses. It was also found that the mood of the participants was very good, even ten months after their period of rest, showing that it has lasting effect.
Dr. Jessica de Bloom. Together with his team from the University of Tampere (Finland), completed some studies which indicated that it is more beneficial to opt for several periods of vacation throughout the year, if you take several vacation periods a year it will be more beneficial than a single extended period .
According to research from the University of Edinburgh, sun bathing during vacations increase levels of vitamin D, a molecule that reduces blood pressure, decreases heart disease and increases the chances of surviving cancer. So the holidays in a warm place with sun, leisure activities and rest will improve your physical and mental health almost immediately.
An important piece of advice, according to Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, the ideal is to leave the best for the end, the rule of the peak end.
According to our mind has been demonstrated, it does not add the different moments, but what happens at the end of the holiday period is better remembered than what happens at the beginning. The more intense the closing of the holidays, the better.
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