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And How To Get Four Full Weeks Of Paid Vacation Annually
by Norman D. Ford, Health Reporter
Vacations are good for you! Especially longer vacations of 2-4 weeks that are physically active.
Which is why this report expresses the Live To Be 90 Lifestyle Plan through the concept of taking a healthful outdoor-fitness vacation . For example, you might spend a week or two on a walking or trekking holiday--or taking a tour by bicycle or kayak--which combines the benefits of aerobic exercise with the adventure of travel. .
Regardless how you spend your vacation, however, two recent studies have each clearly demonstrated that an annual vacation significantly defuses job stress and cuts risks of most diseases by 20-30 percent in the following year. The ongoing MRFIT trial of 12,000 American men revealed that during the 5 year study period, those who took the most vacations had 20 percent less risk of dying from any cause than those who took the fewest vacations. A similar Dutch study made in 1999 found that overcommittment to work without an annual vacation causes job stress to soar. In turn, this can lead to a range of crippling diseases that shorten life.
How Americans Are Cheated Out Of Vacation Time
Obviously, a bike-touring vacation--or any active vacation combined with healthful eating--can be an important safeguard for your health. But bicycle touring, and similar active vacations, are far more popular in Europe than in the U.S.
Here's why! Most Europeans I meet while bike-touring get a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation annually. Some French and German workers get 5 weeks. Most Europeans who have worked a full year for the same employer can take 4 unbroken weeks of vacation at one time--usually in spring or fall if they're cyclists. Many enjoy another week at Christmas.
By contrast, Americans are lucky to get two weeks of paid vacation annually. Many Americans get no vacation at all. Others can get away for only 5 days at a time. While most Americans work an average of 49 hours a week, Europeans average only 40 and government employees in France may work only 35. The fact that Americans spend twice as long on the daily commute eats into our free time even more.
I've found that the word "Vacation" has a vastly different meaning in Europe. In America, vacations are considered a perk or indulgance. We've been so indoctrinated with the work ethic that we brag about working sixty hours a week and sleeping only 5 hours a night--little realizing that our obsession with work often leads to burnout, stress and a premature death from heart disease or cancer.
Important studies have concluded that almost every American under 40 is swept up in a self-inflicted epidemic of sleep- deprivation. Dual income couples must juggle jobs, cars, children, debt and chores to get even 30 minutes of leisure time together each day. For most, the only way to get more free time is to cut back on sleep. The result: millions of young adults sleep only 5-6 hours on weekday nights then try to catch up on weekends. But sleeping in on weekends doesn't compensate for the damage done during the week.
One survey found that young sleep-deficient adults had as many accidents as drunk drivers. Sleep-deprived people also suffer from frequent colds or flu with an increased risk of cancer and heart disease later. Yet it's all caused by a way of life that forces us to squeeze more and more into less and less time.
Stop Killing Yourself
When it comes to real freedom, the freedom to enjoy free time, we Americans are so shackled to our jobs that we're literally vacation-starved. Most of us have to wait till retirement before we can realise our vacation dreams.
No one denies that our industrial lifestyle has given us a higher standard of living. But only through plunging us up to the neck in debt, frequently to buy consumer goods that we have little time to use or enjoy--and on which we then have to pay insurance premiums in case they are damaged or stolen. Every year, millions of people go into debt to buy power boats, jet- skis, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles and riding mowers that, in most cases, simply rob us of exercise and contribute nothing to our health or wellbeing. Our huge cars have destroyed our children's mobility and cheated us out of still more free time by forcing us to become soccer moms and taxi drivers for our kids.
Curiously, many of the "labor-saving" appliances we go into debt to buy don't really save time because we have to work harder to pay off the debt with its often-scalping rates of interest. Then we may have to pay repair bills and spend precious free time shopping for spare parts.
Bicycle touring--and similar active, healthy vacations--are far more popular in Europe than America largely because Americans have so little free time. A recent survey found that the typical American couple could spend only 40 minutes a week playing with their children. The average employed American has barely an hour of free time each working day. It's largely the stress of debt and overwork that causes half of all marriages to go sour, leaving kids to be raised by a single parent.
Forget About The Joneses
Thousands of Americans have already learned to their cost that the more material possessions they own, the less free time they have, and the lower is their quality of life.
If you really want to enjoy more free time and longer vacations, you don't have to move to France. Voluntary Simplicity is the name of a popular alternative lifestyle that let's you continue to live within the framework of the American way of life--but to avoid most of the traps, pitfalls and drawbacks associated with it.
Let's face it. Instead of a lifestyle based on health and fitness, most Americans live lives of gluttony and sloth. By age 65, the average American has at least one chronic disease along with the big medical bills that go with it. In contrast, Voluntary Simplicity minimizes the risk you will ever get sick by endorsing a health and fitness way of living.
By cutting out debt and living below your income, Voluntary Simplicity helps to simplify your life so you can spend more time doing what you really enjoy, including healthful pleasures like mountain walking or bicycle touring.
A Three Months Vacation Every Year For Fifty Years
For 50 years, Voluntary Simplicity has freed me to enjoy at least 3 months of outdoor adventure and travel each year. Believe me, it's key to escaping the rat race and freeing yourself to do what you really want to do. But, regrettably, we don't have space to cover this vital topic on this website.
Instead, I strongly recommend clicking on the Google or similar search engine on your Internet browser and typing "Voluntary Simplicity" into the field.
Below will appear a list of exciting books and websites that promise REAL freedom. The best selling book "Your Money or Your Life, 2nd edition" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, emphasizes that you can't be free if you also have debt.
Another wonderful title says" This is a book for people who work too long in a job they hate, have a ton of debt, eat microwaved food and get sick often." Several books by Janet Luhrs explain, among other things, that simplicity is not linked to frugality or poverty.
Another great title, "Healthy Pleasures" by Robert Ornstein, Ph. D, and David Sobel, M. D., describes how the proven medical benefits of healthy pleasures like bicycling, mountain hiking, or playing tennis or cross-country skiing helps you live a longer, healthier life. All of these books are obtainable on the Net from www.amazon.com
While Voluntary Simplicity may not seem to be for parents with very young children or with children in college, or for those who are caregivers, this just isn't true. Regardless of circumstances, it let's you choose a way of life that rewards you with that most scarce and precious of all American commodities. . .the free time you need for 4 unbroken weeks of vacation every year.
And to learn how to explore the world by bicycle at minimum cost, simply click on "Do it Yourself Bicycle Touring" at www.tourvelo.org.
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From the recommended website of Dr. Mercola at www.mercola.com
By Paul J. Rosch, M.D. President, The American Institute of Stress, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, New York Medical College
Originally published in Health and Stress, the newsletter (June 2005) of The American Institute of Stress
Since one of the topics that had attracted considerable interest in the initial institute report was the effect of vacations on the feeling of being overworked, this was explored in greater depth. This study found that 79 percent of employees had access to paid vacations but that:
Although the average number of paid vacation days was 16.6, the average number of vacation days that employees had taken or expected to take in 2004 was 14.6 days.
More than one third (36 percent) did not plan to use their full vacations.
Very few (14 percent) take extended time for their longest vacations (2 or more weeks). 37 percent take less than a 7-day vacation including weekends, 12 percent take 1-3 days and 25% take 4-6 days.
49 percent take 7-13 day vacations and 14 percent take 14 days, both including weekends.
With respect to relieving stress, the amount of vacation time may not be as important as how that time is utilized. On average, employees who take paid vacation spend:
69 percent of their time relaxing and enjoying themselves with family or friends or alone.
19 percent of their time on family or personal responsibilities, including illness, funerals, caring for sick children or parents, tending to their personal illness or a medical problem.
13 percent of their time doing other things like going to school, working at another job, reserve military service, etc.
Most employees don't work during vacations.
58 percent never do work related to their jobs while on vacation.
21 percent rarely do any work during vacation.
21 percent work sometimes, often or very often.
9 percent work often or very often.
Those most likely to work while on vacation are employees with the greatest responsibilities and demands such as managers, professionals, high earners, Type As and those who regularly work the longest hours. At least one in five of those who regularly contact others or are contacted by others about work matters during non-work times frequently work while on vacation because the lines between work and family/personal time have become blurred.
There were significant gender differences too. Surprisingly, women spent less time (64 percent) than men (72 percent) relaxing and enjoying themselves while vacationing because of the need to attend to family responsibilities (24 percent versus 15 percent).
Vacation Requirements Vary by Country
As an aside, it is of interest to note that most countries require a vacation at full pay ranging from 10 days in Canada and Japan to 20 days in the Netherlands and the U.K., 24 days in Germany, 25 in Sweden and France, to 35 days for managers in Italy. In contrast, U.S. employers are not required to offer vacations. Most workers tend to get 10 days (two weeks) off after the first year and there may be periodic increases up to three weeks, depending on position and years of employment.
European countries tend to be much more liberal. French workers are legally entitled to two and a half days off for each month worked, which means they can take a full 25 days off after less than a year on the job. In addition, the French work week is now limited to 35 hours. With respect to paid holidays, totals range from eight days in the Netherlands and the U.K. to 14 in Japan. The U.S. has nine.
In many countries employers also provide a vacation allowance. In Mexico, if you are entitled to 20 days vacation, your employer must pay you for the 20 days plus another 25 percent, which would be the equivalent of 25 days pay. In actuality, Mexican employers often give much more (around 80 percent) than the statutory requirement.
In Belgium, the vacation premium is 85 percent of one month's pay and Australian workers typically receive 13 weeks paid leave after 15 years on the job. In many Muslim countries, paid leave is provided for one pilgrimage to Mecca and Indonesian workers get paid time off for prayer during the workday. In Italy, which has different priorities, you receive 15 days off with full pay if you get married.
Brazilian employees must be given one paid day off to donate blood and in some Asian countries women get one paid day off each month. In Japan, the law currently applies only to women with severe menstrual complaints. (Some say this benefits men as well.)
The Toll on Overworked Americans
Other surveys have also confirmed that Americans are overworked and need more time off. A study conducted in 2000 on behalf of Oxford Health Plans reported that one in six employees are so overworked they are unable to use up their annual vacation because of excessive job demands. The survey also revealed that:
34 percent report they have such pressing jobs that they have no down time at work.
32 percent work and eat lunch at the same time.
32 percent never leave the building once they arrive at work.
19 percent say their job makes them feel much older than they are.
17 percent say work causes them to lose sleep.
For example, a 42-year-old computer analyst in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who had gone without a vacation in two of the last four years explained that, "If you take off a week, you've got three times as much work to do when you get back."
A 31-year-old Microsoft program manager in Seattle quit her job because she had not been able to take a vacation for five years. She remembered thinking "I can't go... I've got too many things to do." She subsequently took a less demanding position overseeing computers for the Seattle Opera in order to "have a life" and hopefully take a vacation the following summer.
The survey also showed that while most employers make it easy to keep medical appointments (70 percent) and return to work after illness (68 percent), other companies exude a corporate culture that places loyalty to the company as a prerequisite that often discourages healthy behaviors and lifestyles.
19 percent of survey respondents said workplace pressures make them feel they must attend work even when injured or sick.
17 percent said it is difficult to take time off or leave work in an emergency.
14 percent believe their employer makes it difficult to maintain a healthy diet.
14 percent feel that management only promotes people who habitually work late.
8 percent believe that if they were to become seriously ill they would be fired or demoted.
The study stated, "Americans are the most vacation-starved people in the industrialized world." This was based on statistics from the World Tourism Organization listing average annual vacation days for Italy (42), France (37), Germany (35), Brazil (34), Britain (28), Canada (26), South Korea (25) and Japan (25) with the U.S. being last at 13.
The Real Health Benefits of Taking Time Off
Oxford's chief medical officer said, "This survey is a wakeup call for Americans to realize that taking a vacation is not frivolous behavior. It's essential to staying healthy. Regular vacations are preventive medicine -- they cut down on stress-related illness and save health care dollars." He emphasized that while taking a vacation provide stress relief benefits, medical research shows that it can also lower risk of death. "Taking a vacation is a serious health issue that should not be ignored. It could save your life."
He was referring to data from the Framingham Heart Study data of women aged 45-64 showing that frequent vacations cut risk of death among all women by half. Another study from the State University of New York at Oswego published in 2000 found that regular vacations lowered risk of death by almost 20 percent in 35-57 year-old men.
A 2002 study commissioned by Expedia.com similarly found for the second year in a row that American workers do not take advantage of their vacation days because they are just too busy and can't afford to take time off. As a result of "Vacation Deprivation," workers continue to give back almost $19.5 billion in unused vacation time to their employers.
According to the president of Expedia, the nation's largest online travel agency, "Consumers seem conflicted regarding downtime. While many Americans feel too busy to take vacation, the desire to utilize it has become a top priority. Expedia.com wants to do everything possible to help Americans overcome 'Vacation Deprivation' by offering rich vacation planning solutions providing convenience, flexibility and savings in one place."
In commenting on this study, Dr. Dorothy Cantor, president of the American Psychological Foundation warned that, "Workplace stress can take its toll. In order to maintain a strong state of mental health, the human body needs a release and a source of replenishment. An ideal vacation should eliminate stress, encourage relaxation and provide opportunities for rejuvenation, making the benefits of the experience immeasurable."
Unfortunately, things seem to be getting worse rather than better. The Families and Work Institute of New York study also reported that both spouses in double-income households with kids put in over 15 hours a day on work, commuting, chores and child care. They believe, within 10 years, the projected average workweek will be up to 58 hours.
As a sign of the times, Hallmark recently marketed greeting cards for absent parents to tuck under cereal boxes in the morning -- Have a super day at school -- or to place on a child's pillow at night -- I wish I were there to tuck you in.
That's pretty sad.
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For more on Voluntary Simplicity, click on:-
Clay and Judy Woods, the Simple Life Home Page. Learn that Voluntary Simplicity is about freedom, REAL FREEDOM! It's about owning your own life. It's about wanting less and discovering that time is BETTER than money. Plus many links to other Voluntary Simplicity websites.
Americans Have The Shortest Vacations In The Developed World by crusading editor Steve Lopez in Time Magazine 6/12/2000. An authentic expose of how Americans are robbed of their vacations by their corporate masters.
The Simple Living Network ( www.simpleliving.net ) This large Voluntary Simplicity website provides tools, examples and contacts for conscious, simple, healthy and restorative living
CAUTION: Though these reports are based on documented studies in professional journals or on advisories from leading university medical schools and research institutes, they are intended for information only and should not be regarded as medical advice or instruction. For diagnosis and treatment of specific symptoms and diseases, disorders or dysfunctions, consult your physician. If you smoke or are over 35 or have symptoms of--or are at risk for--any chronic or degenerative disease, you should check with your doctor before beginning to exercise or making any changes in lifestyle or diet. However, fitness organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine invariably believe that the risk of NOT exercising far exceeds any risk in beginning a gradually increasing program of daily exercise. Thus if you experience any pain or problem while exercising, or making any other lifestyle change, stop and see your doctor at once.