by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman

A recent article in the New York Times reported that about a third of employed Americans don't take all their vacation time.

That’s also true in Britain and France; however, in both countries workers get more vacation days than we do. British workers average 26 days and French workers 17 days, while most American employees average only 14 days vacation.

The United States is the only one of 137 industrialized nations that doesn’t mandate vacation time. Almost a quarter of private sector workers don't even receive paid vacations.

The Framingham Heart Study, with data from 20 years, showed that women who took vacations every six years or less were more likely to get heart disease or have a heart attack than those who vacationed at least twice a year.

Findings of 12,000 men over a nine year span revealed that those who didn't take annual vacations had 32% more risk of a heart attack.

Although smoking, obesity, and exercise among other factors affect outcomes, research makes the case that vacations are good for you.