Short breaks make people happier than one long vacation

London: The next time you decide to take a vacation, make it a short one rather than clubbing all your leaves and taking a long holiday.

Research has shown that taking smaller, frequent breaks makes people a lot more happier than taking one long holiday. Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist, said that people`s enjoyment wanes as they become accustomed to their holiday lifestyle. "On a long vacation, day seven is less good than day one because it`s not as exciting. That`s why in general, going away four times [a year] provides more benefit than you would expect, and going away for one week provides less benefit than you would expect," a news daily quoted Prof Ariely at Duke University in North Carolina, as saying. But other experts disagree. "If you pack three times as many holidays into the same amount of leave, you can expect three times as much trouble. It`s not obvious to me that it`s worth it," said Tim Harford, the author of Dear Undercover Economist. ANI