Bon Voyage, Mama Teacher!

A recent study, highlighted in the NYTimes Well blog today, notes a connection between happiness and vacations. Except it isn't exactly what you'd expect--there was more happiness before the vacation, with happiness returning to base levels quickly after the vacation, even if it was a particularly "relaxing" vacation.

The only vacationers who experienced a boost in happiness after the trip were those who reported feeling “very relaxed” on their vacation. Among those people, the vacation happiness effect lasted for just two weeks after the trip before returning to baseline levels.

“Vacations do make people happy,” Mr. Nawijn said. “But we found people who are anticipating holiday trips show signs of increased happiness, and afterward there is hardly an effect.”

One reason vacations don’t boost happiness after the trip may have to do with the stress of returning to work. And for some travelers, the holiday itself was stressful. . . .

The study didn’t find any relationship between the length of the vacation and overall happiness. Since most of the happiness boost comes from planning and anticipating a vacation, the study suggests that people may get more out of several small trips a year than one big vacation, Mr. Nawijn said.

Have a great mini-vacation, Mama Teacher! Studies say you're doing the right thing . . .