Daily HealthBeat Tip

On vacation

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Need an excuse for a vacation? Try this: A study finds that going on vacation really lifts a person's spirits � and if one vacation a year is good, two are better.

Researcher Cathy McCarty of the Marshfield Clinic, a nonprofit private group medical practice in Wisconsin, surveyed women in the state. Her study in the Wisconsin Medical Journal was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

McCarty's study found women who took vacations twice or more a year were less likely to feel tense or depressed � and were more likely to feel better about their marriages � than were women who waited longer.

How many vacations is best?

"I think it's very personal. It's just that our data would suggest that people should take a vacation at least once per year." (six seconds)

She says that probably includes men, too.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: December 9, 2005

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