Taking more than three weeks of vacation may help you live longer

A new study shows that taking more than three weeks of vacation days may help you live longer. According to research from the European Society of Cardiology, stress appears to be the most important indicator of longevity. And about half of adults in the U.S. say their lives have been negatively impacted by stress.

In this study, started in 1974, over 1,200 middle age men were divided into two groups: one that started a healthy lifestyle of exercise, better nutrition, and smoking cessation, while the other group did nothing. Five years later, the risk of cardiovascular disease dropped 46 percent in the group that received intervention. But by 15 years later, more men in the intervention group had died than men in the control group. Why?

The men who died in the intervention group all took shorter and fewer vacation days. Those who took less than three weeks of annual vacation had a 37 percent greater chance of dying.

The bottom line for all you workaholics out there? Even exercise and eating healthy foods won't overcome working too hard and not taking vacations to unwind.