There are many articles pushing for the benefits of travel for fitness since it involves a lot of physical activities such as walking, biking, etc. But, did you know there are also some great advantages of traveling for mental health as well? Starting from making social connections to helping with chronic mental health conditions such as depression!
Following, we recount the top benefits of traveling on mental health alongside the proof of science-backed studies and expert opinions which give light to the rather overlooked advantage of vacationing.
Wanderlust & Wellness: Top Mental Health Benefits Of Travel
1. Decreases Stress And Depression
According to various studies, travel helps decrease common mental health problems such as stress and depression. The reason behind is pretty easily understandable too. Going to places while taking a break from your regular life can really be really refreshing while creating some memorable and fun memories.
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, a board-certified NYC family medicine doctor quotes:-
“As a society, we’re so focused on removing negative symptoms like depression. We often forget to instill positive emotions. That’s why it’s so promising to see that vacations can do both of those things for you. Taking a vacation can be good for your family life.”
2. Enrichment Of Life Through Memories
While vacationing, you get a wealth of chances to meet people, explore new places, cultures, and trying on different activities stimulate creative thinking. It can have a positive effect on your overall well-being as the fun activities increase dopamine production in the brain.
3. Can Even Help In Chronic Mental Health Problems
According to a study conducted in the Netherlands, traveling at least once a year is good for health. The trip helped patients with chronic mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
A change of scenery and the sense of adventure make a vacation or trip feel rewarding and enhance quality of life. It can improve emotional regulation leading to mindfulness.
(However, if you are the one planning the vacation or taking frequent trips, then it may not benefit you as much, making the whole process feel overwhelming. If a similar problem arises, then the person should follow their coping strategies, alongside a supportive companion.)
4. Getting Close To Nature
One of the most popular reasons why traveling is good for mental health is that you receive a renewed sense of peace with a trip into nature. Of course, you also get more abundant chances of physical activities to keep us fit.
Nature acts as a grounding effect, which can be considered as a restorative escape, allowing individuals to recharge their minds. Dan Harris, journalist, host, and author of the Mindfulness book, 10% Happier, quotes:
“This tip often can be paired with the tip of doing some movement, you can do both of these at the same time. Exposure to nature is really important and a lot of science has shown that exposure to nature is directly correlated to a sense of well-being.”
Though your trip might not be totally focused on adventures connected to the environment, the majority of vacations tend to add nature activities to their schedule.
5. Enhances Social Connections
Humans are social beings. That’s why there are different researches that show that loneliness leads to the onset of various mental health problems such as depression.
Now, travel mental health benefits us by encouraging social interaction, in various forms such as other travelers, meeting with the locals, and more. Holiday retreats are among the best places to travel for mental health and connection.
You get to meet people from different backgrounds. These meetings may not only open our mindset and offer a new perspective but also improve our emotional well-being. It can even be a chance to boost confidence and improve social skills that’s ideal for people with people who are shy.
6. Encourages Mindfulness
Immersing ourselves in unfamiliar environments may not seem the ideal choice for some. But, traveling is a great space to work on our confidence and break out of our shell for self-discovery. Vacations provide a fabulous opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the world and provide us with the time to reflect on our life and goals.
Another related advantage: While this may not be the case for people who are constantly on their phones, work, and social media), many people take trips to take a break from Tech. Instead of capturing every single moment for our feed, we do it for ourselves!
7. Enhances Creativity
There have long been discussions on the connection between mental health and creativity. There is an association between the two that can affect people in both positive and negative manners. For example, going on a trip or retreat which comes into the best places to travel for mental health, gives you inspiration and enhances mood.
Exposure to new cultures and experiences stimulates creative thinking. Now, the negative effect is that people with inherent creativity can also suffer mental health problems due to their nature such as depression when they are not getting appreciated for their work.
But, since this article focuses on travel mental health benefits specifically, we have focused on the aforementioned topic.
8. Boosts Mood
The last but not least point for why traveling is good for mental health is the thing that we all need at one point or another in our life, an opportunity to improve our mood, turn our frowns into smiles.
We explore new places, interactions, and cultures with the chance to vacation. This may get our heart rate, releasing dopamine, a chemical, which makes us feel excited and happy! This helps with problems like depression and anxiety, boosting our overall health and mood!
Conclusion
With these benefits and science backing the claims, we see how travel helps mental health. Not only amazing for physical fitness but for mental happiness as well. However, if you think it’s a leisure activity where frequent travel is required for a calm state of mind, you can make short local trips too.
