Long hours and high stress on the job release stress hormones, raise blood pressure, and increase the risk for atherosclerosis and other heart problems. A Harvard men's study says vacations and retirement aid the necessity of balance in work and relaxation to improve men's health.

In one study, men who took the most vacations were 29% less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease and 17% less likely to die over the nine-year study period than those who did not take regular vacations.

However, psychologists in the Netherlands discovered vacations are not good for everyone. Researchers identified a group of men with "leisure sickness," a set of psychosomatic symptoms that are triggered by time away from work..

While vacation is temporary, retirement is a permanent change in status, with significant effects on a man's self-image.

A successful retirement requires planning for the loss of income, work relationships, and identity as a worker. If retirement is entered into with a realistic outlook on the change of life and planned appropriately, it can be a happy and healthy change.

The study says men should encourage other interests to make the leisure of retirement as rewarding as the challenges of work.