Frequent vacations good for your heart

New York, June 22: Take out time for travelling amid your busy schedule as frequent vacations not only help de-stress but also reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, reveals a new study.

The study, published in Psychology and Health journal, found that a vacation can help people reduce their metabolic symptoms and therefore their risk of cardiovascular disease.

"What we found is that people who vacation more frequently in the past 12 months have a lowered risk for metabolic syndrome and metabolic symptoms," said Bryce Hruska, Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, US.

"Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. If you have more of them you are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This is important because we are actually seeing a reduction in the risk for cardiovascular disease the more vacationing a person does. Because metabolic symptoms are modifiable, it means they can change or be eliminated," Hruska added.

For the study, the researchers included 63 employees eligible for paid vacation. The participants underwent blood tests and completed an interview assessing vacationing behaviour in the past 12 months.

The study's findings showed that the risk for metabolic syndrome decreased by nearly a quarter with each additional vacation taken by participants.

Researchers suggest it is important for people to use the vacation time available to them.

"One of the important takeaways is that vacation time is available to nearly 80 per cent of full-time employees, but fewer than half utilize all the time available to them. Our research suggests that if people use more of this benefit, one that's already available to them, it would translate into a tangible health benefit," Hruska concluded.