For the average American, paid time off (or PTO) no longer inspires daylongs of sipping margaritas on the beach or Europe-bound city-touring. Instead, it’s catch-up time for sleep.
A recent poll run by Amerisleep found that 37% of Americans took paid vacations last year to rest. And to be frank, it’s hardly surprising why.
The Emergence of Rest Over Recreation
With inflation, rising costs of traveling, and the ever-present risk of burning out, taking time off to do nothing is no longer a convenience but a necessity. As companies changed PTO policies, with unlimited leave as provided, employees are not taking that time to buy tickets.
One-third of the workforce used their PTO to rest, not to play. The worst generation here was the millennials, 43% of whom said that they took a day off to sleep compared to 34% of Gen X, 33% of Gen Z, and a solitary 20% of the baby boomers.
“People often crave this unattainable work/life balance complex where many Americans are using time off just to catch up on rest,” said Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group and host of the 9innings podcast, in an interview with Newsweek.
“With the demands of children, extended family, and daily social engagement, it stands to reason that many are looking for a respite to recharge the life battery wherever they can.”
When Sleep Becomes the New Luxury
The numbers don’t lie: burnout is real. It’s calling the shots about how free time in America is used.
“Burnout is so widespread that people are burning vacation days on basic recovery instead of new experiences,” said Rosie Osmun, a sleep science coach trained at Amerisleep. “This shift shows that rest has become a necessity, not a luxury.”
For some, the old-style “vacation” has proved to be more stressful than remaining at home. With the expenses of travel, flight interruptions, as well as the ongoing stress to “make the most” of free time, relaxation can be a mirage.
So, Americans are ditching the airport rush and turning off the alarm clock to sleep in.
Who is Sleeping Instead of Sightseeing?
Intriguingly, the survey also revealed that the higher wage earners were 26% more likely to utilize the PTO to sleep compared to the wage earners who took home less than $100,000. On average, individuals who took a day off to rest took two to three days to recover.
That sounds insignificant, but in a culture that romanticizes hard work, that’s enormous.
The intergenerational split is also revealing. Millennials, who entered the workforce during recessions and now pay record prices to live, are most likely to catch up with PTO.
Baby boomers, meanwhile, appear to adhere most to the old notion of a “vacation”, perhaps because they can, or perhaps because they’re better at disconnecting.
Experts Warn: This is a Symptom of Something Larger
Alex Beene, financial literacy instructor, said that the pattern shows “a society that is highly overworked” and threatens “less efficient work over time among the same workers.”
Thompson reaffirmed that worry, explaining that the stress to cope both professionally and personally has proved to be unsustainable. Individuals have to lead two lives, professional and personal, whilst others lead a mix of the two.
Most are balancing work/life, which could cause an unbalance whereby people will either opt out of the workforce completely, which is what is actually taking place right now, or the productivity output will suffer whilst working.
The Future of PTO: Staycations and Sleepcations
“I quite often hear people say they need to ‘take a vacation from their vacation’ when they get back home,” Thompson explained. “Some people feel like their vacations are more work than the actual vacation was supposed to be, leaving them drained even further.”
That may be why staycations, vacations spent close to home with a focus on sleep, self-care, or plain quiet, are becoming a hit.
As Americans continue to expand, they are reevaluating what to do with limited downtime, and experts believe rest-directed vacations could be the new norm. Instead of going on the hunt for thrills, workers might choose to pay off their sleep debt, relax, and simply be with nothing to do.
Bottom Line
The Amerisleep report says Americans aren’t lazy, but rather worn out. As levels of burnout rise and expenses of living push budgets to the limit, downtime has become the ultimate opportunity to catch one’s breath, not to venture out.
Vacations might not be going away soon, but the manner in which Americans utilize them is evolving rapidly. And nowadays, the ultimate fantasy getaway that everybody wishes for might be a straight eight hours of sleep.
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