Thank you for joining us for episode 530 of Live Happy Now.

As we move through the summer, be sure to include one very important tradition, the summer vacation.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and this week I'm talking with Live Happy CEO and co-founder Deborah Heise,

who's going to share some of the science

behind vacations and explain why they're not optional. They're essential for your well-being.

Let's have a listen. Deb, thanks for coming back on the show. I'm excited to be here, Paula.

It's the end of July, so people are trying to like squeeze in their summer vacation or maybe

squeeze in a second summer vacation. So I wanted to talk with you about kind of like the

psychology of vacationing. I know that some people think of summer vacations as something

that's frivolous. But the research, as you and I know, and we love to talk about, it shows

us that it's way more important than we

might have realized. So before we kind of dig into that and why it's so important, I know you and your

family just had an incredible vacation. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, we just got back

from a great week in Hawaii. My oldest son, my only son, he's also the oldest child. He graduated. And we let the

kids know years ago that when they graduated, they could help us plan their post-graduation

vacation. And he chose Hawaii. And we went there as a family. And it was a great getaway.

You know, lots of outdoor time, lots of time together.

You know, there's something about forced traveling together where you come together as a family

a little differently. But no, it was a wonderful vacation. That's great because, you know, we see all

the movies and having had trips with my family, I'm one of six children, so I'm very familiar with the,

she's touching me, stop looking at me, being in the car together for extended periods of time.

But when you go on a trip together, even with those moments intact, talk about what it does for us

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