67% UK Adults Take up to Four Days to Stop Worrying about Work on Holiday

84 per cent of British holidaymakers claim holidays are worth more to them in terms of well-being than the money they spend on them, a survey by Kuoni Travel and Nuffield Health.

The UK’s largest healthcare charity and Kuoni Travel surveyed 2,845 UK adults between 14 April to 30 June 2012 to find out how a holiday can help to alleviate the effects that everyday life has on our mental and physical well-being.

Taking a break can improve our lives in four key ways: a break out of our routine, opportunity to reconnect with loved ones,  fresh perspective on our lives and to relax and recharge our batteries.

These benefits explain why almost a third (32 per cent) of Britons say that every pound they spend on a holiday is worth 2-4 times more to them in terms of well-being, 21 per cent say it’s worth 5-7 times more, more than a quarter (27 per cent) say that its worth 8-10 times more, and 4 per cent say its worth over 11 times more. Interestingly, of those surveyed 67 per cent said it took up to four days to stop worrying about work, this breaks down into:

• 44 percent said it took between 1 and 2 days
• 23 per cent said it took between 3 and 4 days
• Younger adults (16-24) were most likely to worry the longest (74 per cent)

This survey is part of a bigger research study Kuoni and Nuffield Health are doing this year called The Holiday Health Experiment.  Across August, Kuoni are sending three different couples away on three radically different types of holiday – to Amazonian Peru, to Thailand and to the Maldives.  

1. A midwife from Bushey in Hertfordshire and her friend from Worcester travelling on a girls’ holiday to the Maldives with Kuoni
2. A clinical researcher and her husband from Glossop in Derbyshire travelling to track pink dolphin and measure caiman crocs in Amazonian Peru with Kuoni and Earthwatch
3. A couple of Coastguards from South Hants travelling on Kuoni’s Ancient Thailand tour

Nuffield Health and psychotherapist, Christine Webber, will be conducting medical tests on the couples before, during and after the holidays.

Regional highlights:

• 38 per cent of Londoners say that the greatest impact of a holiday is giving their body a chance to recover and 25 per cent say that relaxation is what they value most about a holiday
• Londoners are also the most likely to say their daily life is time pressured (56 per cent)
•  76 per cent of Glaswegians say that relaxation on holiday has the greatest impact on their physical and emotional wellbeing (the highest percentage across the UK)
• 44 per cent of people from Manchester and Newcastle prioritise the opportunity a holiday provides to help you switch off