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Vacations are good for you

Date published: 5/18/2008

BY EDIE GROSS

Anna Victoria Reich fondly recalls the last time she and husband, Marc, enjoyed a nice, long getaway.

The couple went to Mexico for seven straight days.

Eighteen years ago. On their honeymoon.

"Now, it's going to be very short trips--if we even go," said Reich, who's hoping to satisfy her family's wanderlust this summer with day trips from their Stafford County home, complete with picnic lunches.

The rising costs of gas, food, hotels and airline fares make longer vacations impossible, said Reich.

She'd planned to drive to Georgia last weekend to see the memorial stone placed on her mother's grave. But after being confronted with "outrageous" prices, she canceled the trip.

"It's just way out of reach," she said.

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

The faltering economy, pressures at work and a lack of guaranteed time off means Americans are taking fewer vacations than ever before--and shorter ones at that, according to studies and several vacation advocates.

Family vacations are down 28 percent since the 1970s, said Joe Robinson, author of "Work to Live" and a work-life coach.

Only 14 percent of workers who answered a Harris poll in 2007 planned to take a two-week summer vacation, he said.

"It's a long weekend now, not even a week anymore. Clearly, we're backsliding in a major way from what vacations were typically in the '60s and '70s," Robinson said. "We really are on the verge of vacations' going away, and that's the opposite of what's happening around the world."

Long weekends are nice, but a block of vacation is necessary to combat burn-out, decrease stress and even, according to health professionals, reduce the risk of heart disease.

"Time itself is a healing element here," said Robinson. "Rushing off to a vacation for a few days and rushing back is not going to do it. You need some time to unwind."

LEAVE GUILT BEHIND

The trend away from long vacations started in the '70s, he said.

As U.S. companies merged and then downsized, employees enjoyed very little job security, Robinson said.

Along with that, workers felt pressure to do more with less and often didn't have a co-worker who could take over if they did go on vacation.

The result: Americans drastically reduced their time off.

9 Days of paid vacation received by the average U.S. private sector worker 0 Days of paid vacation guaranteed U.S. workers 20 Days of paid vacation legally guaranteed in Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom $150 billion Cost to U.S. employers each year due to stress-related absences 460 million Estimated number of vacation days Americans "give back" each year Take Back Your Time: timeday.org Work To Live: worktolive.info "No-Vacation Nation" study: cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/no-va cation-nation

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Date published: 5/18/2008