Research Plus

Holidays improve health and wellbeing

A meta-analysis finds that vacations have small positive effects on health and wellbeing, but the benefits fade rapidly on returning to work. There was insufficient evidence to analyse the health and wellbeing effects of different holiday activities, though one paper reports that positive vacation experiences result in improved wellbeing on return to work (negative experiences had the opposite effect). There was limited evidence that vacation satisfaction and negative work reflection may influence outcomes. Studies were not of high quality.

Journal of Occupational Health 2009; 51(1); 13–25.

Tags evidence based practice wellbeing

Occupational Health at Work April/May 2009 (vol. 05/6) pp45