Taking care of our mental health is becoming more important than ever. There are various strategies and therapies available to promote well-being. However, an often overlooked method is traveling! Numerous studies have found that there are actually positive impacts on both our mind and body from traveling. In this blog, we will explore the link between travel and mental health, the physical and mental benefits that come from exploring, and the potential challenges of travel.
Benefits of Travel on Mental Health
Traveling offers countless benefits to our mental health. One of the biggest benefits is the fact that traveling allows for an escape from the stress from our everyday lives. By taking a break from our familiar routines and surroundings, we are able to relax and reduce some of the stress we deal with on a daily basis. The simple act of exploring new destinations actually can boost our mood and increase our happiness. Traveling also allows us to broaden our perspectives, which in turn encourages personal growth. Traveling can help expose us to more diverse cultures, traditions, and ways of life than what we are used to. Stepping outside of our comfort zones can help confront our fears, learn new skills, and even lead to increased self-confidence. Traveling can also help us build better social connections, and encourage more meaningful interactions with others. Whether you are traveling alone or in a group, you are bound to meet new people, possibly gaining new friendships and memories along the way. These simple connections can enhance our sense of belonging and in turn reduce feelings of loneliness. This can help to promote an overall positive mental wellbeing. Lastly, traveling helps us to be more present in the moment. Since we are embarking on a new journey, we are fully engaged with our surroundings. This helps us to be more mindful, allowing us to be more grateful and have extra appreciation for our lives!
Physical Benefits of Traveling
Traveling not only helps our mental wellbeing, but it also helps with our physical well being! Some of the physical benefits of traveling include:
Increased Physical Activity: Traveling often involves exploring new places on foot, whether that be hiking through the mountains or walking through a new city. This encourages us to be more active and engage in more exercise. This boost in physical activity can improve cardiovascular health, enhance stamina, and even strengthen our muscles.
Exposure to Vitamin D: Exposure to vitamin D comes naturally with travel, since we are more than likely to be spending more time in the sun. Vitamin D plays an important role in maintaining healthy bones, supporting our immune systems, and regulating our mood. When we spend extra time outdoors while traveling, we increase our vitamin D levels, promoting overall well being.
Exposure to New Environments: As mentioned briefly above, traveling allows us to experience new environments, climates, and cultures. This exposure
Stress Reduction: Traveling is often a natural stress reliever! This is due to the fact that we are able to take a break from the daily stressors in our lives. Reducing stress levels has a direct impact on our physical health. It lowers blood pressure levels, reduces cortisol levels, and boosts our immune system
Improved Sleep Patterns: Although traveling often disrupts our regular sleep routines, it can actually help to reset our internal body clocks. Experiencing different time zones and adjusting to new sleep schedules can actually improve our overall sleep patterns in the long run. Quality sleep is crucial for cognitive development, physical recovery, and maintaining our overall health.
Challenges of Travel and Mental Health
While traveling has plenty of advantages for our mental health, it unfortunately also has its challenges too. Here are some common challenges travelers may face and how they impact mental health:
Loneliness and homesickness: Traveling alone or being far away from familiar surroundings can lead to feelings of loneliness or homesickness. This can be emotionally challenging, potentially leading to mental health challenges.
Stress and anxiety: Traveling can often be stressful. If you already deal with stress and anxiety, traveling may exacerbate the symptoms. From planning and packing to navigating in a new place, the stress can be overwhelming.
Travel fatigue and burnout: Traveling for long periods of time without proper rest can lead to fatigue and even burnout. This can have a negative impact on your mental health. It’s important to incorporate breaks or restful activities to avoid the potential feelings of burnout that traveling causes.
Relaxium Calm
While traveling often has wonderful benefits to our physical and mental health, it can sometimes cause us lots of stress and anxiety. In order to avoid these unwanted feelings, consider bringing Relaxium Calm along for your travels.
Relaxium Calm is a drug-free, safe, and effective mood enhancing supplement. This relaxation enhancer has been designed to help elevate mood, supply vital nutrients to the body, and manage stress. Using a whole-body approach, Relaxium Calm supplies essential vitamins for mood support and restoring serotonin levels.
Bring Relaxium Calm on your next trip to ease any worries you may have about traveling. Order it now for only $28.88 when you use promo code CALMBLOG28 at checkout!
At Relaxium, we have a simple mission in mind – to create affordable, safe, and effective supplements. Through extensive research, we created four life enhancing supplements: Relaxium Sleep, Relaxium Calm, Relaxium Immune Defense, and Relaxium Focus Max. We use a perfect synergistic blend of ingredients in our products to ensure results. If you are interested in trying our Relaxium products, click here for more information!
To restful and healthy days ahead,
The Relaxium Team
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources:
[1] Here’s why planning a trip can help your mental health (nationalgeographic.com)
[2] 5 Ways Travel Is Good for Your Mental Health (everydayhealth.com)