After months of long, stressful days hunched over a computer, dealing with difficult clients and sorting through unorganized receipts, you’re ready to unwind. Come April 16, many accountants will take a well-earned vacation. But it’s not always easy to flip the switch and go from a constant-pressure mode to a Zen zone. 

You already know that stress is bad for your health. It distracts you during the day, keeps you up at night and manifests itself in physical aches and pains. The stress that practicing accountants face can be more intense than that of other professions, in part because of the deadline pressure. Whereas people in other lines of work have various ongoing deadlines, much of some CPA’s work is due on a few specific single days. Until those times, pressure mounts; after them, it drops off precipitously.