Jack Ma has said he wants to die on a beach, not his office. That day might not come for some time, thanks to his recent decision to retire from Alibaba. According to new research, there's an important connection between taking time off and living longer.

In one of the longest follow-up studies in the world, researchers found that vacations can prolong your life. In fact, hard-driving executives live longer when they take vacations than when they don't, despite healthy lifestyles.

According to the findings, the longer one vacations, the more longevity improves. In the study, those who vacationed for 3 weeks or more each year lived longer than those who vacationed for 3 weeks or less.

Stopping smoking and eating better will not compensate for working too hard and not taking your holidays, University of Helsinki professor Timo Strandberg said at this year's European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress. "Vacations can be a good way to relieve stress."

Ma was surprised that his life did not slow down once he stepped down as Alibaba CEO in 2013 and stayed on as its chairman. Ma thought that he would "have more free time to play golf on the beach." But he was wrong. Instead, he spent hundreds of hours more traveling for work than he expected.