According to a paper by Bloom et al. (2010), the answer is ‘yes’…at least in the short run. The authors studied 96 workers from the Netherlands and asked these individuals about their well-being two weeks before their vacation, during their vacation and 1, 2 and 4 weeks after their vacation. Wellbeing was measured based on 7 dimensions.
Participants’ health and well-being improved during vacation on five indicators: health status, mood, tension, energy level and satisfaction. However, during the first week of work resumption, health and well-being had generally returned to pre-vacation levels. In conclusion, a winter sports vacation is associated with improvements in self-reported health and well-being among working individuals. However, these effects fade out rapidly after work resumption.
Source:
- De Bloom J, Geurts SA, Taris TW, Sonnentag S, de Weerth C, Kompier MA. Effects of vacation from work on health and well-being: Lots of fun, quickly gone. Work & Stress. 2010 Apr 1;24(2):196-216.
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