Holidaymakers and property investors from the UK travel to Spain for relaxation, fun and plenty of quality family time, new research has revealed.
Holiday company Eurocamp, who commissioned the study, found that regular playtimes could provide the secret to a happy and healthy life.
Psychologists at Manchester Metropolitan University have come up with a unique algebraic formula that calculates how much playtime we need to counterbalance Britain’s dire weather conditions, extra rate rises and longer working hours.
Families have been urged to spend more time with nature, to become more active as a family and to indulge in creative time, while on short breaks and family holidays .
Working out the formula - (N+O) x (R+F) + CE - will inform you whether or not you have a healthy approach to playtime, where N is time with nature, O is outdoor activity, F is family activity, CE is creative time and R is unstructured fun.
Dr David Homes from the university argued that it is important to enjoy approximately 90 minutes of playtime each day and that 25 per cent of a 40-hour working week should be spent involved in one of the five play elements to help us achieve balance in our demanding lifestyles.
But many Brits regularly work overtime and are simply too exhausted to enjoy themselves at the weekend, unlike in Spain, where relaxation and time with the family are natural priorities.
Ruth Start, Eurocamp’s UK head of sales and marketing, commented: "Spending quality time with our families, embracing the outdoors, learning new creative skills and enjoying play purely for play’s sake are all important factors to help us redress the work-life balance ."
"Having said that, on the whole, we're probably not getting quite enough daily quality play as we need and for most of us the only way is to rely on a holiday in the sun to get our annual quota."
Eurocamp recommends that spending time anywhere in Spain is likely to boost all five elements, and that the more time spent, the lower your stress levels will become.
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