Health Watch is a Public Service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.
This week on Health Watch, we’re talking about how work can affect your health. We’ve been talking about stress, what it can do to you and how you can manage it. One important thing you can do to help keep your mind and body healthy at work is get away from the office every so often.
Dr. Munro Cullum, a psychiatrist and neurologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says we need downtime to allow our brains to work “off-line” and recharge. For real de-stressing, you need a vacation long enough to really relax. For some of us, we may need a couple of days just to get used to relaxing before we can enjoy the vacation. To really benefit from a vacation, you also need to leave the office behind. If at all possible, avoid being on-call via phone or e-mail while you’re on vacation. That can leave you on-edge and keep you from being able to leave daily life behind enough to really relax.
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July 2007
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