5 Reasons Why You Must Take Vacation (It Seriously Will Improve Your Health)
I recently returned from a vacation in Italy. It was a last minute decision to take vacation with my family of five. And the week was jam packed. We were on the go every day. Rome, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Venice, Florence and Tuscany. Eight days from start to finish.
And here’s what’s crazy. Even with jet lag and this schedule, my health indicators were the best they have ever been. It made me realize the importance of taking a break. Now, maybe an overseas trip isn’t within your budget at the moment, but getting away from the day to day grind can positively impact your health and give you energy to keep pursuing your joyful quest.
So let me share what I learned and why you simply must take vacation (or even a mini break) to improve health.
Why You Must Take Vacation
If you’ve been following my story for a while, you’ll remember that I’ve worked as an executive for a long time. And I had convinced myself that I always had to be “on”. Even when I would take vacation or on weekends, I would work. I never stopped.
What I didn’t realize is that my nervous system was in the parasympathetic (flight or fight) state. Constantly. My body was always tight, my brain had a million thoughts running through it, and I thought that I always had to be busy. I often didn’t sleep well. Sometimes, I would go for days without sleep or perhaps sleep for only an hour or two, but I bought into the story that this is what life had to be.
After all, who would make the decisions if I wasn’t available? Didn’t I need to show my presence to be a good leader?
As I’ve been working on my own joyful quest, I’ve learned new skills and have embedded habits into my life. Journaling. Meditation. Mindfulness. Even some mild biohacking. I’ve consciously improved my fitness and seen the light with eating a diet based on whole foods and sometimes, supplementation.
The last frontier though, was taking vacation and actually switching off. This was a no-go zone for me. Until I made a decision it wasn’t. So I wondered, what would actually happen if I did set an out of office notification on my email (let me be fully transparent – I have NEVER done this), did not bring my computer on vacation, did not check email? Would the world end? Would I lose my job?
Guess what.
Nothing happened.
Things kept chugging along.
The world kept rotating.
The sun rose and set.
And here’s the best thing. As I tracked my health indicators (I’ve written about how I measure my body’s readiness using the Oura ring here), something strange happened.
Except for the first day of travel (two flights, little sleep, traveling east across nine time zones), my sleep score was off the charts (including amazing levels of deep sleep and REM sleep), my resting heart rate went to its lowest level since I started charting my health ten months ago and my HRV (Heart Rate Variability) jumped 100+ ms for four days in a row. It was so high (170+ ms) that I didn’t even believe the number. Until it kept happening.
Was it the beauty of Italy? Maybe. Was it the five to ten miles walking every day? I can’t say it didn’t help. For sure. But I also can’t help but wonder whether the disconnection from every day life, the constant nagging worries and pressure to be responsive, busy and “on”, was a major contributor to the surprising results even when wrangling three teenagers and a husband.
So let me share five tips on how I did this. How I set up the vacation so that I could disconnect, and avoided the pressure that sometimes comes with travel and spending a lot of time with family.
How to Prepare For, Enjoy and Take Vacation
1. Anticipate the Vacation
Have you ever noticed that sometimes, just thinking about vacation or a trip away, is better than the actual event itself? And later, looking back at photos from the trip and reminiscing over the fun times fills you with so much happiness?
Anticipating the positive feelings can be just as amazing as the experience itself. If you’d like to learn more about this, read my blog post about how to use gratitude to build an amazing life, where I share how gratitude can significantly improve our well-being and life satisfaction. And people who routinely practice gratitude sleep better, have stronger immune systems and are more likely to show compassion and kindness.
I used the research and planning for our vacation to get myself and the family excited about the trip. I let the kids choose the Airbnb apartments (including their bedrooms), and had them share their thoughts on the cities and places we would visit. And sometimes we were able to do what they had asked for (my youngest really wanted to see Venice, so we had to pull some strings to get this in the schedule) and other times we couldn’t.
But at least everyone knew what was planned for the trip, and they themselves were able to get ready for the vacation. Without a doubt, the last two weeks before the trip made me so happy.
As I counted down the days until we were due to leave, I was finding myself filled with joy and excitement. And I was able to rehearse what the trip would look like, so I felt well prepared for any situation that might normally cause angst if it was unexpected.
2. Set Expectations with Colleagues, Family and Friends
Rather than trying to downplay the vacation (my usual modus operande), I talked to colleagues, family and friends about the upcoming trip. Was it to brag? Actually, no. It was all about setting boundaries. Boundaries are an important part of being able to enjoy your vacation. According to the Holistic Psychologist:
Boundaries are an ultimate life hack. They’ll give you space to protect your energy. You’ll feel less overwhelm and daily stress. Confidence and self esteem will start to build. Relationships will hold more meaning.
This meant letting people know that I actually wouldn’t be available for meetings, to give advice, or review their work, during the week I was away. And that if they needed support, they should schedule it before I left (more on this in a moment) or would need to wait until I returned. And that it was their responsibility to do this.
That they couldn’t just say that I was on vacation (putting the monkey on my back) but that if they had a deadline, they would need to think through the implications of me not being there.
Now this can certainly be challenging. Especially if you’re a people pleaser or feel like you don’t want to let anyone down. But believe me when I tell you that this type of tough love actually builds others’ skills. They learn to think ahead and work backwards from their goal. And to understand that if they are relying on others, that they need to be prepared.
Remember the quote:
Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for me.
Bob Carter
Well, setting expectations ahead of time is actually a gift you give to others. If you were sick, you would not be available. If you had a meeting scheduled, it would be the same. Think of your vacation as something to block in your calendar that is so important it cannot be changed or moved. No debate.
3. Front Load before Leaving
This is my biggest hack to being able to take vacation and enjoy it. And it applies to personal and professional commitments. Basically, look at everything that has to be done while you are away, and organize it (or do it) before you leave.
Now, this takes a bit of planning and prioritization. Let’s be honest. It also involves work.
In preparation for our trip, I looked at any meetings or deliverables that were due either while we were on vacation or a week after we returned. I assumed I would have jet lag and may not be as productive as normal. I also looked at the kids’ calendar.
We returned home the day before school started, so this meant that everything from school registration, fees, clothes, and even food, had to be ready.
I scheduled a grocery delivery for the day of our return so we would have food for breakfast and lunches the next day, laid out the clothes and had backpacks with school supplies ready before we left.
I worked late to make sure everything was finished before I left. Was it hard? Was it exhausting? Yes! But it felt so great to know I was leaving without the burden of feeling I hadn’t finished up things and that people would be counting on me while I was away.
This is why I call it front loading. You’re aiming to get ahead of anything that either will come up, or may come up, while you’re away. And for emergencies that happen while you’re away, well that’s when you count on your amazing colleagues, family and friends to hold down the fort.
4. Schedule the Vacation and Leave Little to Chance
Let me share a secret with you. And I think I’ve shared this before. I am very organized. With a family of five and working full time, it’s just the way I roll. Perhaps you’re more a go-with-the-flow kind of person. And that’s totally cool, too.
But something that really helped to make our vacation so enjoyable was that it was completely predictable.
Putting the time in up front to research will save a bunch of uncertainty later on. And with so many travel blogs around, it makes sense to learn from others to plan the vacation of your dreams. I started with a Google docs file and firstly laid out the dates and flights.
I looked at whether we would be able to hit the ground running (we did: landing at 7.45 am, having a driver waiting for us once we cleared immigration and customs, dropped our bags at the Airbnb and had a prearranged tour of Vatican City at 2 pm) and searched for recommended travel itineraries starting in Rome.
Pretty early on, I decided that we would not be driving ourselves, which meant I needed to research transportation options. Train and taxis became our best friends, especially when we learned that many taxis had extra seats in the trunk, which could be opened up to handle our family of five.
This decision also led to a path of considering organized tours. Now maybe you’d prefer to explore by yourself. Believe me, our trips are often spontaneous. But for this trip, I was expecting to be jet lagged. And truly, this was one of the best decisions of the entire vacation. Every second day, we were booked into a tour.
So we knew where we were going and what we were doing. The tour guides were amazing and offered suggestions of things to do and see, that we may not have discovered by ourselves. And because I already had the details of the time and location of where we were to meet, I was able to put this into the itinerary.
Leaving every second day without a planned tour meant we were able to explore the cities by ourselves, too. We set goals of what we wanted to see and planned ahead to know if that was even possible. For instance, on our second day in Rome, we didn’t set any alarms as I thought we may have needed more sleep after a busy first day. This assumption was spot on. We slept until lunchtime, and then found a small pizzeria for lunch, before walking to the ancient ruins.
I had already researched that the Colosseum closed at 7 pm, with last tickets sold at 6.15 pm, and that the sun would set around 8 pm. So we set up Google maps and explored the city with freedom, knowing we wanted to get back by dark.
And finally, I completely loved our Airbnb apartments. We found amazing three or four bedroom / three bathroom apartments with a washer and dryer. So although we were away from home for eight days, we washed clothes halfway through the trip, which meant each of us were self sufficient with a carry on roller bag and backpack.
What surprised me the most about the Airbnb hosts was the communication – both before we arrived, and during the stay. They booked taxis for us and gave recommendations for eating spots. This helped so much. And since I organized this before we even started our trip, everything was in the itinerary and every day, we just followed the plan.
Honestly, give this approach a try next time you travel or take a vacation. It made the trip so easy and probably saved a lot of arguments!
5. Understand Why You’re Vacationing and What You Want to Achieve
Here’s the last tip. Reflect on why you’re vacationing and your intention. Perhaps you’re needing a quick getaway. Time to relax and do nothing. Or you’re looking for an adventure and want to explore. Maybe the vacation is all about friends and family. Or perhaps it’s a combination.
I really thought about this a lot when I was planning the vacation. Because quite frankly, the intent was to finish the school summer holidays doing something fun. I knew that once school started and summer was over, that we would all be back in the grind of school, activities, and work. And it felt as though summer had passed by too quickly. Do you ever feel this way?
So the goal of our trip was to explore, visit new places, and have different experiences. There was no expectation of rest, which is why I was so surprised to see the positive health impacts.
And that was the biggest joy of the vacation. Was Pompeii amazing? Yes! Was swimming off the Amalfi Coast in Positano, refreshing and exhilarating? You bet!
But what I wasn’t expecting was that the positive energy we had from taking this vacation, showed up in so many other ways. We will have our memories. We will reminisce over the delicious lunch at the vineyard in Tuscany and delight in telling stories of the canals of Venice. But this experience has shown me that taking your vacation is more than just rhetoric. It truly makes a difference to one’s well-being. And I have the data to prove it.
Key Takeaways
Take vacation. Or even a short break. And your body will thank you.
Remember though that the benefits of taking time off come with rest. Getting out of flight or fight mode, and letting your mind and body recover from the daily barrage that is life. Yes, daily habits can help your nervous system stay more in the sympathetic state, but sometimes you need to disconnect in order to heal and recover.
If it feels like you can’t possibly take time off, try some of these tips. You might be surprised with the results. And if you need more evidence of this, try reading Alex Pang’s fantastic book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less Hard. It’s a game changer.
Have you taken time off to recover, lately? What did you do to disconnect?
