Treating the weekend like a vacation can increase happiness, and exploratory analyses show support for the underlying role of increased attention to the present moment

Happiness From Treating the Weekend Like a Vacation. Colin West, Cassie Mogilner, Sanford E. DeVoe.  Social Psychological and Personality Science, June 15, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620916080

Abstract: Americans are time-poor. They work long hours and leave paid vacation days unused. An analysis of over 200,000 U.S. workers reveals that not prioritizing vacation is linked to lower happiness. Many people, however, do not feel they can take vacation due to financial and temporal constraints. How might people enjoy the emotional benefits of vacation without taking additional time off or spending additional money? Three preregistered experiments tested the effect of simply treating the weekend “like a vacation” (vs. “like a regular weekend”) on subsequent happiness—measured as more positive affect, less negative affect, and greater satisfaction when back at work on Monday. Although unable to definitively rule out the role of demand characteristics, the study results suggest that treating the weekend like a vacation can increase happiness, and exploratory analyses show support for the underlying role of increased attention to the present moment.

Keywords: happiness, subjective well-being, vacation, time, attention to the present, mindfulness