"Good for the soul and heart : taking a vacation can lower the risk of heart disease"
If you want to improve your heart health or decrease your risk of stroke, shut down your work computer, put your office cell phone on mute and take a vacation. Researchers at Syracuse University found in a small study that people who take a vacation have a lower risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that can result in heart disease, stroke or diabetes, such as increased blood pressure, high blood sugar or excess body fat around the waist. The study, published last week in the journal Psychology & Health, looked at blood samples and vacation behavior of 63 workers. They found as vacation episodes increased, the number of incidence and metabolic syndrome symptoms decreased. The risk for metabolic syndrome decreased by nearly 25 percent every time the worker took an additional vacation. “We are actually seeing a reduction in the risk for cardiovascular disease the more vacationing a person does,” said lead author Bryce Hruska, an assistant professor of publ...