University of South Australia’s health researchers think that working only four days a week, with three-day weekends, could be beneficial for our health. They studied people’s habits before, during and after their holidays in order to see if there was any difference or improvement when they had days off. The research shows that when individuals take even just a short break, they tend to be more active and healthier.
During a 13-month period, people took around two to three trips that would last an average of 12 days. The type of trips they took most often was “outdoor recreation” (35%), followed by “family/social events” (31%), “rest and relaxation” (17%), and finally “other non-leisure activities” such as taking care of family or renovating their house. When people went on holiday, these were the kinds of activities that made up their trips.
When people take a holiday, they usually do healthier activities. The study conducted by UniSA researcher Dr. Ty Ferguson showed that each day during the holidays, people did five minutes more of moderate to vigorous physical activity, spent 29 minutes less being sedentary and slept 21 minutues more than normal days.
When people go on vacation, they aren’t bound to their usual day-to-day tasks. According to Dr. Ferguson, this might be good for them as our study found that when people are on holiday, they exercise more and spend less time being sedentary than usual.
If you take a holiday, you’re likely to get an extra 21 minutes of sleep per day. That extra sleep isn’t just nice – it can actually help your physical and mental health in a lot of ways. It’ll make you feel better, make it easier for you to learn and be productive, and it might even help protect you from getting diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart problems, or depression.
This study involved 308 adults (with an average age of 40.4 years) wearing fitness trackers for 13 months. It looked at how holidays affected their movement and found that the longer the holiday, the more positive health benefits they got. The data was observed by looking at how people moved before, during, and after a holiday.
Prof Carol Maher from University of South Australia believes that the study backs up the trend toward working a four-day week.
She said, “Several businesses are already trying out this shorter schedule, and people are reporting that it helps them better manage stress and fatigue, gives them more time to rest and results in improved overall mental health.”
This study shows proof that taking a short break such as a three day weekend can help people to live a healthier lifestyle. This extra physical activity and sleep can assist in improving your mental and physical health, which are the benefits of having a four-day workweek.
The results of our study showed that even after spending a few days on vacation, people kept sleeping better for two weeks! This means that taking a three-day break can actually have long-term benefits. As the world is getting used to the new normal, it’s time to take full advantage of long weekends and improve our physical and mental health.
A report published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity on March 1st, 2023 looked at how people’s activity levels changed during and after vacations. The researchers named this study “How do 24-h movement behaviours change during and after vacation?“. They worked to understand these changes better to improve people’s well-being.