Your Health: The Value of Personal Vacationing

Your Health is a six-part series of short articles that explore various aspects of personal well-being, written by NEW JERSEY BUSINESS magazine.

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Nov 28, 2018

While New Jersey is perhaps enviably situated between Manhattan and Philadelphia, it is – on the other hand – the most densely populated state, and has among the statistically longest commute times in the nation.

New Jerseyans may not realize that the state’s 9 million residents exceed the populations of Norway (5.3 million), Finland (5.5 million) or Denmark (5.7 million). And although the state of Vermont, for example, may appear vast when depicted on a map, its population of approximately 650,000 is dwarfed by New Jersey’s 14-times-larger population.

Such contextualization may be helpful when comprehending just how hustle-and-bustle many New Jersey residents’ lives actually are – a broader, multi-factorial issue which can also be tangentially understood via more high-level analyses detailed by the US Census Bureau.

Each person has his or her own methods for rest and relaxation, but vacationing – long ago considered to be reserved for the wealthy – has since been studied and understood regarding its personally restorative benefits.

Justin McCarthy wrote an article for Gallup in 2014, noting, “Making time for regular trips or vacations with family and friends is linked to higher overall well-being. Americans who say they take regular trips have significantly higher well-being than those who say they do not, as measured by Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index scores, and this difference persists across all income groups.”

Other studies reveal that vacations can result in stress reduction and improved physical and cardiovascular health, for example, among a host of other personal benefits.

In warmer weather, New Jersey’s 127 miles of white, sandy beaches may offer respite, and many people enjoy partaking in resorts throughout the state in the colder months, and/or engaging in Atlantic City’s activities.

Newark Liberty International Airport, meanwhile, is one of the largest airports in the United States, and offers the state’s residents rapid and near-effortless egress from either the Garden State – or the entire nation.  The internet abounds with “vacation tips and advice” including airfare suggestions, and entire websites – in tandem – are devoted to helping ensure that vacationers’ trips are hopefully free from fraud, accidents and other perils.

Atlantic Corporate Health’s Travel MD®, Morristown, provides – among other services – the vaccinations travelers may require for overseas destinations, and, separately, it perhaps “goes without saying” that the United States Department of State can at least serve as one tool when researching an overseas destination’s various political and other safety conditions.

Not-so-frequent travelers to foreign destinations often don’t even contemplate foreign travel because they believe it is “extremely expensive”; they may be surprised to learn that a valid ticket from a major American airline (if the timing is carefully attuned to) can transport a New Jerseysan roundtrip to and from London’s Heathrow airport for as little as ($740 USD), for example.

Airbnb homes can substitute for hotels in some foreign locales, not only drastically reducing fees, but also allowing said travelers and their spouses or families to prepare local cuisines in a local resident’s home – and in a “local neighborhood.”

The United Nations has more than 190 member nations, and many can be visited when, again, safety and other considerations are carefully examined.

New Jersey and New York have offer vast opportunities arguably not found in other states, but it can also be asserted that their gems might be best appreciated by those who have first enjoyed the recompense of a quality vacation – either stateside, or abroad.

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