The value of taking a vacation

At MyHomes, we often hear from owners that one of the great things about buying into the MyHomes concept is that they now get to take their vacations. In a busy everyday life, it can be difficult to make decisions about where and when the next break should be, but as an owner of MyHomes properties, you get your vacation planned well in advance, allowing you to relax in the process and look forward to enjoying your vacations and time with family.

Psychologist Maja Schondel, who specializes in stress, anxiety, and mindfulness, describes the significance of taking a break from everyday life for both body and mind:

“It’s important to take a vacation from everyday life. I think most people would agree. It’s been a focus for the last 100 years. Back then, it was more about the body needing a break due to hard physical work and strain. Today, it’s much more a mental break, where our brain and mind need a break. We have a saying that ‘we need to recharge our batteries,’ which is very fitting for why it’s important to take a vacation. The body is like a mobile phone that needs to be recharged from time to time to function,” explains Maja, continuing:

“Vacation and relaxation are anchored physically and mentally in the body, down to the cellular level. When we are active on a daily basis, we use our energy reserves, and then we need to lie on the couch or sleep to rebuild our energy levels. If we are too hard on ourselves for a long time, we need more time to strengthen the cell rebuilding process,” explains Maja.

RENEWED ENERGY
According to Maja, our thought patterns change from being short-term to being a little more long-term when we are on vacation. We become better able to imagine our lives in the long run by getting new external influences. We view our lives with fresh eyes on vacation. Another positive and important effect that comes from experiencing oneself in a new context is that we become more creative when there are more spontaneous approaches to inputs.

“Studies from Harvard have shown that a mindset where we are present here and now generates more joy in life and more satisfaction with life. It can be easier to achieve presence when we take a longer break from everyday life and travel away. We become more curious and attentive to what is because it’s different from what we see daily. We also become more productive when we take periods where we completely take time off from work. We move away from acute problem-solving and start thinking more long-term,” explains Maja.

VACATION BOOSTS CREATIVITY AND HEALTH
Other studies show, according to Maja, that one becomes 25% more creative when not stressed. And she emphasizes that it’s a huge problem in workplaces where employees walk around with too high a stress level, making them worse at problem-solving. Physical symptoms such as, for example, that one’s immune system works worse, and one gets elevated blood pressure, are two things that have especially been studied in relation to taking a vacation. During the vacation, blood pressure drops, and heart rate becomes slower and more stable. So it’s healthy for the body to be in low gear.

“In a Dutch study, researchers examined employees’ mood and stress levels leading up to a vacation. Here it was found that just the thought of taking time off and going on vacation increased the positive boost of happiness hormones for up to eight weeks before the vacation. There is something incredibly wonderful and life-affirming about having planned a vacation that you can look forward to,” says Maja, continuing:

“Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. Already two weeks after returning to work, the positive boost one got before the vacation decreases. Therefore, you should actually hurry to plan a new vacation, so you have something to look forward to,” says Maja.

IT’S NOT EASY FOR EVERYONE TO UNWIND
But even though we generally know about the beneficial effect on body and mind of taking a vacation, it’s still difficult for many of us to take time off when we have time off. And according to Maja, there’s a good explanation for that:

“It can be hard enough just to unwind over a single weekend. I think we all know that. And the reason for that is that our bodies are incredibly good at adapting. If you have a daily life where the accelerator is constantly being pressed, your body will think that the accelerator should also be pressed when you wake up the first day of vacation. Automatically, the body sets in motion all hormone systems and pumps blood out to the major muscle groups to get you going. And that’s why it can take some time to wind down. Sometimes we work hard at work and expect that when we wake up on vacation, we’ll be relaxed, but unfortunately, that’s not always what happens. And that’s because we’ve pushed ourselves too hard.”

For those who are accustomed to pushing hard in their everyday lives, Maja offers the good advice of ‘gifting’ oneself a day without any scheduled activities upon arriving at the vacation destination. This allows one to relax and hit the brakes, so the relaxation response can kick in, and there’s time to regenerate. It provides the body and brain with the space to calm down and get used to the idea that it’s time to unwind, maximizing the positive effects, both physically and mentally, of one’s vacations.

A PLUS WITH FAMILIAR SETTINGS
As a MyHomes owner, you famously travel to your own properties to vacation in familiar surroundings. For Maja, it makes perfect sense to seek out some familiar settings for a vacation.

“It’s truly relaxing when you arrive and already know where the good café or bakery is, and where the best greengrocer is located. Routines and structure, which you can rely on, help to calm the system down because we need less cognitive energy. When everything is planned, or we know what the routine is, energy is freed up. That’s also why we humans create routines in our daily lives. It’s so we don’t have to use mental energy all the time. So it can definitely be a plus to travel to something familiar,” concludes Maja.