7 Reasons Why Taking a Vacation Can Improve Your Mental Health

When it comes to your health, the state of your mental wellness is just as important as physical health. Mental health can be impacted by the constant stress and responsibilities of everyday life, from work to home, to socializing. 

Finding ways to deal with your stress on a daily basis is important, but sometimes you just need to get away for a while. A vacation can help you to change your mindset, boost your mood, and feel revitalized so you can return to your home and work life feeling refreshed and ready for any challenge that may arise. 

Visit the Mental Health Hotline at 866-903-3787 for more resources and help hotlines.

7 Reasons Why  Travelling Is Good For Your Mental And Overall Health

Having good mental health is crucial for having a fulfilling life and coping with the normal stresses of life. It is a state of well-being that offers the complete realization of your own capabilities. That is why it is very important to maintain its healthy and nurture it through life.

Travelling contributes to maintaining healthy mental health and according to one study, it can make you more creative because it is a way of adapting yourself to new cultures. (1) 

Another study says that when people expect and plan a holiday, they feel happier and hence, experience more pleasant feelings. (2) 

Let’s see how traveling makes such a difference for us and contributes to our overall health and well-being: 

1. Leave Your Worries Behind

A change of scenery can make a huge difference in how you feel. If you have been stuck in a routine where you never get any variation, you can start to feel stuck. This can build into feelings of restlessness, discontent, and even depression.

Going somewhere new, even for a short amount of time, will give you the chance to experience something different and wake up your senses. There are plenty of wonderful vacation ideas, such as cruises from Florida, that give you the chance to truly relax for once, while taking in the soothing and scenic beauty around you. 

Just having the chance to focus on something else for a change can be enough to help you shift your mind enough to renew your sense of vitality and energy. 

2. Relax and Recuperate

There are so many ways that the body’s energy and wellness can get depleted. The modern lifestyle is full of challenges that can make it tough to live healthily and give your body and mind what they need to thrive.

A vacation can be just the thing to give you time out for quality rest and recuperation. When you are always on the move and worried about the next day’s tasks, it can be nearly impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Without sleep though, the body is unable to heal and strengthen itself and can start to deteriorate in small ways instead. This leads to physical and mental symptoms that range from anxiety to high blood pressure.

When you go on vacation, you are given the time to fully rest and heal yourself. The pace of life slows down and the demands on your time and attention fade away. You are able to take better care of yourself and simply enjoy life. (3)

3. Strengthen Relationships

Your relationship can also be improved by going on vacation. Traveling with your loved ones is a tremendous opportunity to spend some quality time together. You get to know each other again and can enjoy each other’s company without rushing off to the next event.

Secure, meaningful, and healthy relationships will have a positive impact on your mental health. Having people that you trust and admire that you can talk openly to is a wonderful support system. Knowing you have this in your life can make you feel more at ease, and give you a solid option to ask for help if life gets to be too trying at times.

4. Spark Your Imagination and Passion for Life

The spark of life can be dampened when you don’t have time to pursue things that are enjoyable and stimulating. It can be easy to get bogged down in responsibilities and forego working on your favorite hobby or taking an exciting new class. (4)

Taking a vacation is an opportunity to remember how important fun is to your health. You will realize that prioritizing work and other responsibilities over pleasure are not doing you any favors. You may appear to be getting more accomplished on the surface, but doing so relentlessly will just cause you to burn out after a time.

If you’ve been feeling down lately, or just haven’t had the ability to get away in a long time, then you should start planning a vacation now. A trip will help you restore balance to your life and find joy again, which will help you lead a healthier more fulfilling life. 

5. Travel makes you more creative

Living abroad initiates a process called multicultural learning, lowers rigidity, and makes you think differently to navigate new situations. It can broaden your perspective and increase your positivity and your general outlook on life.

The experience of meeting new people and cultures is powerful enough to boost creativity, as one recent study showed. 

6. Travel makes you happy and lowers the risk of depression and anxiety 

In one study, researchers identified that happiness and travel are related and people who visit various places feel more positive and have positive emotions, and participants who underwent MRI scans when the study ended had changes in their striatum and hippocampus, 2 parts of the brain that are associated with novelty and reward. (5) 

Another study published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal, with 1500 participants, reported that people who took vacations more often said they felt happy and less depressed and stressed, so vacation may be one of the best ways to fight depression and improve mental health. (6) 

Traveling is a great connector for people around the world when it comes to compassion for others and makes us more aware of our humanity and how we are all equal, human, and need compassion. 

After traveling, you feel more clearheaded and you will be ready to take on new responsibilities that wait for you at home and work. 

7. Travelling can keep you healthy and stave off burnout 

Workers who experience burnout, and take relaxation breaks regularly, are more productive than workers who are over-worked and are not rested. It also relieves you from stress, which makes you healthier. 

Even a short vacation for a few days, where you enjoy your vacation activities and spend time with your partner, can positively affect your health while working during your vacation can worsen your health. (7) 

What Is Mental Vacation?

Mental vacations are like daydreams, and they give rest to your brain and mind. This will help you focus better and break the monotony of your thoughts. Going on a mental vacation means feeling free from all daily obligations, recharging yourself, and calming your nerves once in a while.

6 Ideas On How To Go On Mental Vacation

Ready to go on a mental vacation? You do not need to ask permission from anyone and you can visit any place in the world you want. Maybe it sounds strange, but you probably have been on a mental vacation without even knowing it. Here is how you can take holidays for mental vacation:

1. Reading books

You feel so refreshed and relaxed reading a book on your bed, which is so cozy and comfy, and forget about the world behind your doors. It is a great way to refocus your thoughts, feel comfortable and find inner peace. 

2. Listen to soothing music 

You have probably already found some soothing Spotify music like gentle rain, rolling sea waves, or birds singing? Just save the playlist, close your eyes and listen to some relaxing music and destress. You can even take some deep breaths and try to relax as much as you can. 

3. Imagine yourself in a relaxing place 

Imagine yourself in a beautiful place, the Sun coming through the leaves, a small stream gurgling, maybe there are some leaves scattered on the water? Stony rocks around shine from the Sun; you feel the coolness that comes from the shade of the trees and you listen to birds singing. Are you alone, or is someone else with you, some people you love and feel comfortable with? 

You can imagine being in this paradise-like place for a few minutes and coming back to reality. You probably feel more energized and relaxed. This is a great escape for people who are busy and need to take short breaks to be more effective and productive in their work. 

4. Take a walk 

Have a nice morning walk for 5 to 10 minutes with your sneakers on. It is a great way to relax and reduce stress. You can walk along the waterfront or some peaceful place like the nearby park and enjoy the scenery. 

5. Meditate 

Meditation will help you to connect with your inner-self and become aware of your inner life and deep desires, arranging all the disoriented thoughts strategically and with a priority.

6. Write a journal 

Writing a journal can be a real mental vacation because it will help you to write down all the unspoken thoughts you had that day, no matter do you like it or not. It is a great way to release all the inhibitions, so start writing paragraphs in your journal, and you will destress yourself immediately!

You can practice this mental vacation practices daily to relax and devote a few moments of your busy life just to yourself.