Taking time off to recharge your battery even more important these days

"In these days of corporate downsizing, layoffs and mandatory furloughs, the average worker can't afford to be seen slacking off. If anything, people are going the extra mile to prove their worthiness and not fall victim to the chopping block. Even before the economy took a nose dive, the collective workforce in America was viewed as among the most industrious, putting in longer hours and eschewing vacation either to please the boss or simply out of sheer habit. But American workers - and their employers - are paying a heavy price for such a prodigious work ethic. The cost to the individual is job stress and burnout, which more and more health studies seem to indicate. A recent study by the British Medical Journal linked chronic stress to the development of heart disease and diabetes. And CNN reported that a study in the March 3 issue of the Journal of American Cardiology may provide new insight into a link between mental stress and sudden cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death" - The Ledger