A day off and especially a vacation are important for rest and recuperation of an employee. However, recent research shows that treating those who don’t have free time or days off as vacations makes them happier.

The results of the UCLA Anderson School of Management study are based on a series of experiments. In one, half of 441 workers were asked to spend the spring weekend as the audience of a lifetime. The rest of the participants were asked to “treat the weekend like a holiday.”

On Monday, when they returned to work, those who spent their two days as “holidays” reported more joy, less negativity, and more satisfaction than those who spent their weekends as one of many.

“Vacationers” spent more in two days – about 130 dollars against 104 dollars “usual”.

However, how much did the sums spent affect the group of “vacationers” who continued to report that they were happier.

According to the experts, one of the reasons why this exit approach proved to be more beneficial was that holiday mentality seems more consciousas workers who viewed their weekends as an opportunity to unwind reported being more focused on the moments they lived through.

“Treating the weekend like a two-day vacation activates a shift in mindset — taking us out of our constant ‘doing’ mode where our activity is what we’re trying to do to ‘check off’ our to-do lists,” says Cassie Holmes, a professor at the California University of Los Angeles and one of the leaders of the study. “Vacation thinking allows us to feel like we’re really relaxing and enjoying the moment.”

In fact, the researchers note, it wasn’t activities that brought happiness (like going to a theme park or watching a movie on the couch). “Our results suggest that focusing on the present was more important than the emotional benefits of free time,” the researchers say.

The study found that getting into holiday mode on the weekend was relatively easy. All it took was one solution.

“I love the results of the study because it’s so easy to implement, yet it has such an amazing impact,” says Holmes, author of Happy Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most.

Source: Washington Post.