Sex or a Good Book? Men and Women Differ on How to Relax on Vacation

How do you relax when you’re on vacation? According to a new survey, one in four women would rather read, while 34 percent of men would rather have sex. Perhaps that not so surprising, but that tidbit and other male-female disparities are detailed in the fourth annual "Relaxation Report" issued in conjunction of National Relaxation Day on Aug. 15. The survey also found that 45 percent of men feel relaxed when they get home from vacation while 43 percent of women feel tired and need a vacation from their vacation. It’s definitely interesting, although not all too surprising, to see a distinction between how men and women like to relax while on vacation," Most Americans age 35 and older said it typically takes them two or more days to settle into their vacation. Nearly two out of three prefer to take at least a full week’s vacation rather than taking days off here and there.Men and women also choose different dream celebrity traveling companions. Forty percent of women would like to travel with comedian Ellen DeGeneres, while 42 percent of men lean toward singer Taylor Swift and actress Scarlett Johansson. When asked which male celebrity Americans would want to vacation with, men and women both agreed with 22 percent on actor Hugh Jackman. When it comes to a musical companion, 18 percent of men and women chose Justin Timberlake while Rihanna got votes from 13 percent. Meanwhile, one in four Millennials (age 18-31 years old) choose sleep as the activity they want to do more while on vacation, but only 14 percent of Americans 65 and older want to sleep more on vacation. Nearly one in four parents prefer sleeping more on vacation than non-parents. In fact, for parents, getting more sleep is more of a priority than having sex (23 percent and 20 percent respectively).

The survey was conducted by ORC International among 1,008 American adults, ages 18 and older, between Aug. 1 and Aug. 4, using the CARAVAN landline-cell phone combined sample methodology.