Take A Cruise... and Call Me in the Morning!

It's official!! Vacations are good for your health! So say reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. You might respond, "I knew that already." Ah, but now there's research to back it up. So grab your bathing suit, fetch your passport and tell your boss you're heading out on a cruise - doctor's orders!

• An annual vacation can cut a person's risk of a heart attack by 50 percent.
• Blood pressure, heart rate and levels of epinephrine - a stress hormone - decline on holidays of only one or two days.
• Recuperation and improvement in exhaustion are facilitated by free time and warmer and sunnier vacation locations.
• Travelers experience a 25 percent increase in performance on vigilance tests after returning from vacation. Travelers 45 or older show a 50 percent increase in performance.
• Even the anticipation of vacation travel generates an increase in positive feelings about one's life as a whole, plus family, economic situation and health.

Rx: Begin your health improvement program immediately!! Time to book a cruise!!