Work, family, money, bills, health, etc. Some of many stresses in our lives that can pile up on us. There are many ways to relieve stress that I have mentioned before such as exercise, yoga, meditation, spending time with loved ones and so on. But what I personally feel is THE best way to relieve stress in one's life is to temporarily escape it. In that I mean going on a vacation and doing activities you enjoy.

I chose to write about this topic because I recently returned from an amazing trip to Park City, Utah. I had never visited the state before and it is absolutely gorgeous! My husband, sister and I had non-stop fun which included kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, a half marathon, and plenty of food and drink. While your idea, of "fun" may not be running 13.1 miles (which I totally get), I'm sure you have your own version of an ideal vacation.

Unfortunately, when researching this topic I found some disappointing results in the vacationing of America, especially when compared to the other developed countries of the world. In fact the U.S. stands ALONE as the only one that doesn't mandate that employers provide some type of paid time off. Meaning it is up to the company to decide if and how much vacation to allot to its employees; this is also true for holidays. Which of course means that we are taking less vacations than most other countries; especially European ones who average 30-40 vacation days a year (how nice would that be?!).

To boot, not only are we not getting out of our "daily grind" enough, it can also affect our overall health. Here are some interesting statistics:

• Those who do not take regular vacations are up to three times more likely to be depressed than their vacationing counterparts.
• A heart study found that men who take regular vacations are 32 percent less likely to die of heart attacks, and 21 percent less likely to die early. And women who go on vacation have a 50 percent lower risk of heart attack.
• Carving out time off keeps you balanced and less likely to become ill. Stress depresses your immune system and has been shown to increase your odds of suffering from adrenal dysfunction, headaches, and several other sicknesses.
• You likely age more slowly by getting away. Not taking a break can elevate the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in your body which may actually speed up the aging process.

Several studies show that not taking vacations actually harms employee productivity. So, it is a double edged sword: No fun, less production! All work. . . no play. . .

Of course you probably don't need convincing that vacations are good for you. And many of us don't have a couple of grand to slap down a few times a year. But even taking a couple of days to hit Bloomington, or renting a cabin, visiting an out of town friend or simply just staying at home and getting extra sleep and catching some movies is better than nothing.

I love what I do, and I hope you do too but it doesn't mean we all don't need a break every now and then. And taking three days off to fly to a city and run a marathon (while very accomplishing) is hardly relaxing. Go explore, relax, rejuvenate and hit your "RESET" button.