Simple act of planning a vacation gives us happiness

People anticipating taking a break to go on a vacation are happier than those who have no travelling plans, a new study claims.

Jeroen Nawijn from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences and his team insist that vacations are linked to a number of positive feelings.

The researchers have learnt how vacations impact happiness among 1,530 Dutch adults, 974 of whom took a vacation.

The experts observed differences in happiness levels and noted that those planning a vacation were happier than those not going away.

However, following the trip there was no difference between vacationers' and non-vacationers' happiness.

In some cases increased happiness was noticeable in the first two weeks back.

Nawijn explained that the effect wears off completely after eight weeks, as people have to return to work or other daily tasks.

The study has been published online in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.