April 11, 2025 • 8 mins
School holidays and Easter are both just around the corner, so how do you make the most of your break?
Taking a holiday boosts wellbeing, but the longevity of the benefits depends on several factors: time away, actives, and mental detachment from work.
Dr Dougal Sutherland breaks down the data, offering advice to ensure that the benefits of your break stick around as long as possible.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be and time to catch up with clinical psychologists
Google Sutherland, who is looking at the break and thinking
about how best to make the most of it. I think, honestly, Google,
that half of New Zealand has decided to take off
those days between Easter and Anzac Day. Three days means
you get what like ten holidays or something.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, It's one of those real bonuses, isn't it.
Where you go, wow, I'm doing that, and I'm kind
of looking forward to Thursday when I clock off and go, wow,
I just days off. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. So yeah,
I thought it was really timely to think about how
we can maximize our leave because you know, lots of
people are going away and at school holidays, and you
(00:53):
know people are I heard on the news earlier that
you know, people are going to Bali and Vietnam and
you know all these other exotic places. I said, wow,
it wouldn't it be good to give some people some
good tips on it nice how to maximize it.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I love that because you have my kind of approach
to this sort of thing, right, my wife always teases
me and says that because I'm all about optimizing time.
It's kind of the ethos through which I shaped my
entire life. So, for example, like she teases me because
when I brush my teeth, I will be listening to
a podcast on one point five speed. Like I'm I'm like,
(01:27):
well that's good time.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I could be brushing my teeth and learning, or I
could just be brushing my teeth and she would never
ever do that. But I like every little moment that
I get, I'm like, I gotta seize it.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
You know. That's interesting because I've just backed away from
doing that a little bit. I'm just trying to really
focus on doing one thing at a time. Yes, and
it's it's been even even this sounds weird. Even when
I walk, I'm just trying to really not because I
sound like I walk really fast and I feel really
stress because I'm really fast. Yea, yeah, yeah, the only
(01:58):
reason I feel stressed was because I'm walking fast so slow,
you're so yeah, but I used to be like that.
I've spent a lot of my lifetime brush chief and
ConA cat, and with my foot I will stir the
pot as well. Yeah, and then yeah, you know, it's like.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
That's how well I wanted to see. Then if you
could see the irony and in trying to like maximize
or optimize a holiday, because some people will say the
whole purpose of a holiday is not to worry about
that stuff and is not to like try and squeeze
every little bit of goodness out of that time. You know,
(02:33):
the whole purpose is actually.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. But also it's I guess I'm
coming at it from how can you make the most
of it? Like is there a way that if you're
going to be on holiday you actually get the most
benefit out of it? And and it's interesting because for
a long time in psychology world people there was a
bit of debate about whether the psychologist, sorry, whether holidays
(02:57):
were actually particularly helpful for our well being. There was
sort of no strong research around it. But they've done
a big sort of you know, they every now and
then again they do this big mess where they look
at all the studies and go, actually, we can draw conclusions,
and they found that indeed, yes, the holiday, no surprise, Really,
holidays are good for us to recharge. And again, no surprise,
(03:18):
the longer the holiday, the better for us.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
But what iarch, well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Well somebody would have been paid.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah. But the thing that I sort of found interesting
was that they said, actually that what they found was
that lying around for the whole holiday doing completely nothing
was actually less helpful for us. You've got a lot
less benefit than if you were doing physical activities and socializing.
And that's not to say, you know, a couple of
(03:51):
days were enoughternoon lying on the beach just reading your
book and you know, is not I'm not saying that's
not helpful, but doing that for entire ten days you
don't get as much half as much benefit than if
you were, you know, sozing and doing some kind of
physical activity. So the idea of being out there and
active when you come back, you get much more benefit
(04:14):
from that than if you've just been lying around doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Really, that's very interesting. I wonder why that is. I
guess it's like treating your body.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean, yeah, I'm surprised. I'm maybe a bit surprised
with that because I'm not I'm an active relaxer like
I'm you know, again, so listening to a podcast on
one point five time speed while listening while brushing my teeth.
I mean, you can imagine what I'm like on holiday,
But I know that a lot of people swear by
the sitting by the pool, you know, reading a book,
(04:43):
sitting on the couch kind of situation.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, Look weirdly enough, because I've done that too, and
it wasn't actually that long ago, maybe at Christmas it was,
and I had a period of doing that, and I
actually got a little bit bored in the inn, just
another day sitting in the sun reading a book, And
I think there's something rejuvenating about actually getting out there
and doing, you know, doing some activities and so socializing too.
(05:07):
You know, we do get a lot of you know,
recharge our well being from contact with other people and
from that socializing. So you know, you could combine the two,
of course you could. You could sit by the pool
or sit by the beach and do that with other people,
and then you kind of and then then it's probably
that's probably hitting at least some of what you want
(05:30):
to do. It's interesting too, they found that the benefits
of holidays last up to about forty three days, and
if you work that out, that's roughly six weeks. And
I've always been well for a little while now, I've
been a big advocate of trying to plan every six
weeks having some sort of holiday, whether that's just a
long weekend or it's just the day off. So I
(05:52):
think that really holds up that sort of idea about
every six weeks do something now. And also too, just
just from a personal point of view, if you can
switch off, if you can mentally disconnect from your work,
that's really really, really key to to really having a
good holiday. So it's not going to work so well
if you've got your device with you or you know,
(06:13):
well I'll just take my phone just in case, you know,
And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, you really
want to cut that cord with work and just completely
mentally detached, and you'll get much more benefit out of
being away. Again, that's probably not you know, it's not
kind of startling revelation, but it's kind of good to
have it confirmed that that's a really useful thing.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
To do, and it just reminds you to be purposeful
about it. So, for example, I like, especially over the
summer break is kind of my biggest break of the year,
and I always like my last day of work, the
last thing I do is that I turn the notifications
off my emails, and then I remove the emails from
the home screen on my phone, so that even if
I am like looking at my phone kind of subconsciously,
(06:53):
I'm not reminded of emails, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Little Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I've just learned
to turn off my my email notifications on my on
my iPad. I used to They used to keep popping up.
What the heck? Why am I doing this? This is
nuts because I would, you know, would automatically remind me
of work again. It's like, no, no, no, I don't
need to do that. Yeah, and I can. I have
to remember to turn them on again. But that's that's
(07:15):
all right. And people will always get hold of you.
I say, really really really need you, you know, some
major crisis that people can get hold of you. So yeah,
anything like that where you can just absolutely switch off
that the better you'll be in terms of making the
most of that time.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I totally agree. He very good, Thank you Googles's.
That is really interesting research. I'm surprised it's only six
weeks though, well maybe I'm not. You know how sometimes
you come back from a holiday and you feel like
two weeks lady, if you're letting need another one, I guess.
I guess six weeks is the absolute maximum host. So
in an ideal world, we all need to be structuring
in little breaks every forty three days. Doogle Sutherland with
us from Umbrella Wellbeing. We'll put all of those tips
(07:51):
on the news Talks. He'd be website. You can find
everything from lash show up there. You know how to
do it. News Talks. He'd beat at coded and zed
Ford Slash Jack.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be and time to catch up with clinical psychologists
Google Sutherland, who is looking at the break and thinking
about how best to make the most of it. I think, honestly, Google,
that half of New Zealand has decided to take off
those days between Easter and Anzac Day. Three days means
you get what like ten holidays or something.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, It's one of those real bonuses, isn't it.
Where you go, wow, I'm doing that, and I'm kind
of looking forward to Thursday when I clock off and go, wow,
I just days off. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. So yeah,
I thought it was really timely to think about how
we can maximize our leave because you know, lots of
people are going away and at school holidays, and you
(00:53):
know people are I heard on the news earlier that
you know, people are going to Bali and Vietnam and
you know all these other exotic places. I said, wow,
it wouldn't it be good to give some people some
good tips on it nice how to maximize it.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I love that because you have my kind of approach
to this sort of thing, right, my wife always teases
me and says that because I'm all about optimizing time.
It's kind of the ethos through which I shaped my
entire life. So, for example, like she teases me because
when I brush my teeth, I will be listening to
a podcast on one point five speed. Like I'm I'm like,
(01:27):
well that's good time.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I could be brushing my teeth and learning, or I
could just be brushing my teeth and she would never
ever do that. But I like every little moment that
I get, I'm like, I gotta seize it.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
You know. That's interesting because I've just backed away from
doing that a little bit. I'm just trying to really
focus on doing one thing at a time. Yes, and
it's it's been even even this sounds weird. Even when
I walk, I'm just trying to really not because I
sound like I walk really fast and I feel really
stress because I'm really fast. Yea, yeah, yeah, the only
(01:58):
reason I feel stressed was because I'm walking fast so slow,
you're so yeah, but I used to be like that.
I've spent a lot of my lifetime brush chief and
ConA cat, and with my foot I will stir the
pot as well. Yeah, and then yeah, you know, it's like.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
That's how well I wanted to see. Then if you
could see the irony and in trying to like maximize
or optimize a holiday, because some people will say the
whole purpose of a holiday is not to worry about
that stuff and is not to like try and squeeze
every little bit of goodness out of that time. You know,
(02:33):
the whole purpose is actually.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. But also it's I guess I'm
coming at it from how can you make the most
of it? Like is there a way that if you're
going to be on holiday you actually get the most
benefit out of it? And and it's interesting because for
a long time in psychology world people there was a
bit of debate about whether the psychologist, sorry, whether holidays
(02:57):
were actually particularly helpful for our well being. There was
sort of no strong research around it. But they've done
a big sort of you know, they every now and
then again they do this big mess where they look
at all the studies and go, actually, we can draw conclusions,
and they found that indeed, yes, the holiday, no surprise, Really,
holidays are good for us to recharge. And again, no surprise,
(03:18):
the longer the holiday, the better for us.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
But what iarch, well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Well somebody would have been paid.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah. But the thing that I sort of found interesting
was that they said, actually that what they found was
that lying around for the whole holiday doing completely nothing
was actually less helpful for us. You've got a lot
less benefit than if you were doing physical activities and socializing.
And that's not to say, you know, a couple of
(03:51):
days were enoughternoon lying on the beach just reading your
book and you know, is not I'm not saying that's
not helpful, but doing that for entire ten days you
don't get as much half as much benefit than if
you were, you know, sozing and doing some kind of
physical activity. So the idea of being out there and
active when you come back, you get much more benefit
(04:14):
from that than if you've just been lying around doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Really, that's very interesting. I wonder why that is. I
guess it's like treating your body.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean, yeah, I'm surprised. I'm maybe a bit surprised
with that because I'm not I'm an active relaxer like
I'm you know, again, so listening to a podcast on
one point five time speed while listening while brushing my teeth.
I mean, you can imagine what I'm like on holiday,
But I know that a lot of people swear by
the sitting by the pool, you know, reading a book,
(04:43):
sitting on the couch kind of situation.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, Look weirdly enough, because I've done that too, and
it wasn't actually that long ago, maybe at Christmas it was,
and I had a period of doing that, and I
actually got a little bit bored in the inn, just
another day sitting in the sun reading a book, And
I think there's something rejuvenating about actually getting out there
and doing, you know, doing some activities and so socializing too.
(05:07):
You know, we do get a lot of you know,
recharge our well being from contact with other people and
from that socializing. So you know, you could combine the two,
of course you could. You could sit by the pool
or sit by the beach and do that with other people,
and then you kind of and then then it's probably
that's probably hitting at least some of what you want
(05:30):
to do. It's interesting too, they found that the benefits
of holidays last up to about forty three days, and
if you work that out, that's roughly six weeks. And
I've always been well for a little while now, I've
been a big advocate of trying to plan every six
weeks having some sort of holiday, whether that's just a
long weekend or it's just the day off. So I
(05:52):
think that really holds up that sort of idea about
every six weeks do something now. And also too, just
just from a personal point of view, if you can
switch off, if you can mentally disconnect from your work,
that's really really, really key to to really having a
good holiday. So it's not going to work so well
if you've got your device with you or you know,
(06:13):
well I'll just take my phone just in case, you know,
And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, you really
want to cut that cord with work and just completely
mentally detached, and you'll get much more benefit out of
being away. Again, that's probably not you know, it's not
kind of startling revelation, but it's kind of good to
have it confirmed that that's a really useful thing.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
To do, and it just reminds you to be purposeful
about it. So, for example, I like, especially over the
summer break is kind of my biggest break of the year,
and I always like my last day of work, the
last thing I do is that I turn the notifications
off my emails, and then I remove the emails from
the home screen on my phone, so that even if
I am like looking at my phone kind of subconsciously,
(06:53):
I'm not reminded of emails, you know.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Little Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I've just learned
to turn off my my email notifications on my on
my iPad. I used to They used to keep popping up.
What the heck? Why am I doing this? This is
nuts because I would, you know, would automatically remind me
of work again. It's like, no, no, no, I don't
need to do that. Yeah, and I can. I have
to remember to turn them on again. But that's that's
(07:15):
all right. And people will always get hold of you.
I say, really really really need you, you know, some
major crisis that people can get hold of you. So yeah,
anything like that where you can just absolutely switch off
that the better you'll be in terms of making the
most of that time.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I totally agree. He very good, Thank you Googles's.
That is really interesting research. I'm surprised it's only six
weeks though, well maybe I'm not. You know how sometimes
you come back from a holiday and you feel like
two weeks lady, if you're letting need another one, I guess.
I guess six weeks is the absolute maximum host. So
in an ideal world, we all need to be structuring
in little breaks every forty three days. Doogle Sutherland with
us from Umbrella Wellbeing. We'll put all of those tips
(07:51):
on the news Talks. He'd be website. You can find
everything from lash show up there. You know how to
do it. News Talks. He'd beat at coded and zed
Ford Slash Jack.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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