The importance of taking a break to start again with renewed energy

Taking vacations brings health benefits. But don’t take my word for it; numerous medical studies confirm that vacationing has positive effects both for employees and for the company, because what benefits the teams has clear beneficial effects for the business. During vacation periods, stress levels go down, blood pressure decreases, sleep quality improves and both body and spirit get revitalized.

It’s clear that people need to stop and disconnect from our daily routines and our work, no matter how much we are passionate about it and how much it motivates us. For health, happiness and because resting will enable us to make better decisions and work better when we return. Vacations are a good time to take a break and come back refreshed.

Digital disconnection

I firmly believe in the importance (and necessity) of treating yourself to a few days of digital disconnection: not turning on any device of a purely professional nature during rest periods. Because there’s an increasing technological dependence, typical of the times we live in and that has been encouraged even more with the pandemic, confinement and teleworking. And this dependence prevents us from recharging our batteries, gives no respite to our stress and as I said, is counterproductive for when we return to work because we won’t have a well-deserved reset.

Regardless of the role that each person plays in his or her organization, they should take vacations, time off to do what they like the most, spend time with those they can’t see during the rest of the year, indulge themselves, do absolutely nothing or as much as they want. But we have to disconnect, because that helps to clarify our goals and purposes and to enjoy our personal life. And both rest and leisure time work for better brain functioning. That’s why we must respect these periods and do our best to ensure that everyone in a company respects them as well. Both in managerial and non-managerial positions, we must all understand that rest period are precisely for this purpose and to be able to tell others what we did when we return to work.

Sergio Martínez Campos

CEO, Hispano Suiza