The secret to living longer? You'll find it on holiday
But people who skip holidays may be missing out on important health benefits, according to a growing body of research linking regular getaways to everything from better heart health to a lower risk of metabolic disorders and even a longer life. A 2025 review of 32 previous studies in the Journal of Applied Psychology also found that the immediate effects on wellbeing are more profound and long-lasting than previously thought.
Among the findings in one longitudinal study that followed more than 12,000 men at high risk of coronary heart disease: Those who took a holiday every year over a nine-year period reduced their overall risk of death by about 20 per cent and their risk of death from heart disease by as much as 30 per cent, according to the study's main author, Brooks B. Gump, a professor of public health at Syracuse University, who studies the health effects of taking holidays.
In other research, Gump and his colleagues found a similar connection between the frequency of holidays and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions – high blood pressure, high blood sugar, a large waist circumference, low HDL ('good') cholesterol and high triglycerides – that raise the risk of heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Each additional holiday the participants took lowered the risk of metabolic syndrome by nearly 25 per cent.
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Other researchers have identified links between taking holidays and fewer stress-related physical complaints, lower levels of exhaustion and depression, and greater happiness and wellbeing.
Even short breaks have health pay-offs. When middle managers were assigned to either take a four-day holiday or take time off at home, those who left town reported greater positive effects on stress and wellbeing, according to researchers at Austria's University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology. And unlike a tan line, the holiday 'afterglow' continued for as long as 45 days post-holiday.
Sleep it off
Not surprisingly, holidays may also help pay down a sleep debt, long associated with a greater risk of obesity and diabetes, a 2022 study in Nature Human Behaviour suggests. Researchers relied on data collected from Sony SmartBands worn by some 20,000 people, covering 218,000 nights of travel, some of which may have been for business. Among the travellers, people who were sleep-deprived – sleeping less than 7.5 hours a night – clocked more hours of sleep when they were away from home.
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