The salutation “Greetings from the beach!” is not unusual during the summer period, but it becomes a little strange when it is the beginning of a work-related email. And yet, many researchers have received one, often from their PhD supervisor, or they have an anecdote about a colleague smuggling their laptop along for the family holiday against their spouse’s will.

Credit: imageBROKER.com/Otto Stadler/Alamy

Beyond anecdotal evidence, however, it is difficult to quantify how prevalent working on holiday or avoiding holidays altogether is among researchers. In 2018, the scientific social networking site ResearchGate conducted a survey of 3,000 of their users, asking them about their summer plans1. Of the respondents, 60% take time off over the summer, but typically two weeks or less. One might think the remainder prefers to take their holiday at a different time of the year, but 70% of those who don’t take leave over the summer never take any time off.

Still, these numbers suggest that the majority of researchers are away from the lab or the office for long enough to have a good break and return refreshed. But do they actually log off? The survey did not pose this question directly but rather asked whether people checked ResearchGate while on holiday. A resounding 84% do, which the site says is in line with their access numbers remaining stable over the summer months. Opening ResearchGate is not a reliable measure of doing more involved work, but it suggests that scientists’ minds remain on their research during a holiday, and it’s likely that those who check published papers will also check in with their group and any papers in the making.

Similar behaviour can be deduced from the submission timings of papers and review reports. An analysis of these submissions to the medical journals BMJ and BMJ Open over a 7-year period found probabilities of 0.08 to 0.18 for submitting work during the night, at weekends and on public holidays with clear variations between countries2.

Both studies speak to a research culture that often shows a level of disdain for taking a break, but the science is quite clear: long periods without any downtime take a toll on the physical and mental health of workers, including scientists, and holidays help restore body and mind — and not just for the duration of the break. A recent meta-analysis3 of 32 vacation studies concluded that the benefits of time off don’t vanish upon returning to work but instead persist for several weeks. Arguably, a better cognitive condition in the time after a holiday may have a positive impact on the quality of work, particularly in intellectually demanding professions like science.

In order to reap these benefits, the meta-analysis concluded, psychological detachment while on holiday is a crucial factor. Physically removing yourself from the lab is not enough; you must take your mind off research to benefit from a holiday. As tempting as it may be to see the summer as a time away from administrative work to focus on the ‘fun’ science part of the job, semester breaks are long enough to fit in some research-focused time in the lab on top of a few weeks away to recharge.

“Physically removing yourself from the lab is not enough; you must take your mind off research”

Despite all this empirical evidence, many scientists still avoid switching off during a holiday or taking one at all. But why? There are many reasons — career pressures, commitment to one’s work, looming deadlines — but work culture is certainly a contributing factor. Academically growing up in an environment in which everyone overworks establishes a norm that can remain unquestioned, and some early-career researchers will assume that overwork contributes to a successful scientific career if that’s what the professors do.

We encourage all our readers, authors and referees to leave their work behind when they go on holiday. Especially senior scientists ought to set an example. It only takes a little effort to not set up unhealthy expectations for how students and postdocs should behave on holiday. Those members of a research group who remain at work while their principal investigator is on holiday (having chosen to take annual leave at another time) are unlikely to cause trouble without remote supervision. Instead, they will learn that their group leader trusts them to do their work, and being let off the leash for a few weeks may even give them the space to have a creative solution for their project when the professor returns.

P.S.: If you are reading this on your holiday, please close the browser, log out of your emails and get some mental rest.