This good news should travel fast.

People who take more vacations have a lower risk of heart disease, according to a new study.

Researchers at Syracuse University interviewed more than 60 subjects about their vacation habits in the prior year. They also evaluated whether the subjects had metabolic syndrome, that is, whether they displayed multiple symptoms associated with cardiovascular problems, including high measurements of waist circumference, blood pressure, triglyceride level, HDL cholesterol level and glucose level.

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“What we found is that people who vacation more frequently in the past 12 months have a lowered risk for metabolic syndrome and metabolic symptoms,” says lead author Bryce Hruska, an assistant professor of public health at Syracuse’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

“Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. If you have more of them, you are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease,” Hruska says. “This is important because we are actually seeing a reduction in the risk for cardiovascular disease the more vacationing a person does. Because metabolic symptoms are modifiable, it means they can change or be eliminated.”

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The study, published this week in the Journal of Psychology & Health with co-authors Sarah D. Pressman, Kestutis Bendinskas and Brooks B. Gump, further discovered the odds of having metabolic syndrome decreased by 24% with each additional vacation taken. The number of vacations taken by participants in the last year ranged from 0 to 15.

“So if someone is doing more vacationing they can actually decrease their risk for cardiovascular disease,” Hruska says. “Anecdotally, people say that vacations are relaxing, and so the thought is that if you vacation more frequently, you’ve got a reduction is stress and associated physiological arousal and that may translate into fewer of these metabolic symptoms.”

Participants were also asked to assess their vacations on many levels, including “length, location, financial burden,” as well as “the degree to which the participant disengaged from work,” alcohol use and sleep habits and any negative events that occurred during their time off.

“Stress incurred from traveling, spending money and providing childcare while vacationing was rated low,” the study concluded. “Importantly, one of the most commonly reported activities occurring during vacations were social activities such as spending time with family or sharing a meal with friends.”

The takeaway? Use all of your vacation days, Hruska says.