The prospect of traveling is always exciting. Exploring new horizons, meeting new people, devouring different cuisines and just appreciating everything around you is a unique experience. This includes cultures, traditions, and customs associated with the new place. Travel is food for the soul. Although exhilarating, sometimes travel can be tedious because it leaves you in an unfamiliar territory away from home, friends, and family. You are forced to trust people you do not know and step out of your comfort zone. You challenge yourself to learn new things and expand your perspective, but that is where the real fun begins.
Some limit the benefits of traveling to simply relaxing and taking a break from their hectic schedules. In reality, the travel experience brings you something much more significant. It doesn’t just help you mentally by enabling you to relax and rejuvenate, but also gives you various physical health benefits.
Following is a list of some known physical and mental health benefits of traveling:
1. Helps Boost Immunity
The exposure to different environments enables our bodies to produce stronger antibodies that help boost our immunity. Antibodies are the proteins responsible for protection against harmful disease-causing pathogens. Depending on the situation we are in, our bodies respond accordingly to the types of bacteria that we are exposed to. The antibodies produced in response to these new bacteria helps prevent us from any future illness thereby contributing to the body’s defense against disease.
2. A Healthier Heart
Traveling usually involves a considerable amount of activity and moving around in general. Constant movement is excellent for heart health as it helps to lower blood pressure. Additionally, the increased blood flow enhances the amount of oxygen reaching the brain thereby reducing the occurrence of strokes. Braintest review deduces that individuals exhibiting a reduced risk of strokes are those that are physically active and fond of traveling. Since traveling is also associated with reduced stress and anxiety, it directly decreases the likelihood of one to suffer from a heart attack or fall victim to any heart disease.
3. Physically Fit
Traveling helps one to become physically fit. When traveling, we spend our days moving, and this activity is excellent for both our bones and our muscles. When out in the open, owing to increased Vitamin D exposure, our bones become stronger. Coupled with constant activity, Vitamin D helps our bones become more resilient over time. This simultaneously reduces the occurrence of osteoporosis as it helps calcium to get absorbed into the bones thereby increasing their strength. Additionally, exercise helps us become physically fit by shedding weight and allowing our muscles to become leaner and stronger. With a muscular physique comes an automatically reduced risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disorders.
4. Better Menstrual Cycles
Menstruation is not pleasant for many girls, especially during travel. However, it can be much better than usual because unlike regular days, during travel, we are walking around a lot more. Walking helps relieve cramps. Outdoor walking exposes us to Vitamin D which helps PMS. Research proves that people who experience more pains accompanying PMS symptoms reported lower levels of Vitamin D, calcium and magnesium. Additionally, travel helps relieve stress and anxiety which in turn helps to reduce symptoms of menstruation such as bloating, pain, etc.
5. Stress Buster
Work-related stress and everyday routines are monotonous and exhausting. While struggling to get through every day’s schedules, we often get distracted from all that we find meaningful and exciting. Therefore, every now and then, a break from hectic schedules is necessary to help our minds rejuvenate. Traveling helps one unwind and takes their mind off from triggers that are making them stressed thereby, helping them to feel calmer. When we feel calm, our mood instantly gets elevated furthermore enabling us to reflect on ourselves. Stress reduction directly affects many other systemic processes in the body such as reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc.
6. Reinventing One’s Self
Traveling helps us to reinvent ourselves and makes us learn new lessons that expand our perspective. When one travels, he or she is exposed to various new cultures, traditions, and practices that push them to think and reflect on themselves. It promotes acceptance and respect for others and their values. Traveling is an excellent way to heal from any mental trauma that you might have experienced in the past. As you travel you learn things that help increase your awareness. You learn things that you will not find in any books — awareness boost self-confidence which in turn enables you to overcome your fears. Overcoming one’s fear is an integral step towards self-growth. So, to grow and move forward, one must always travel.
7. Builds Resilience
Resilience develops over the course of time, and the best way to toughen up mentally is to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Traveling is the ultimate way to let yourself experience new things. It is exciting yet intimidating but having to face difficulties in unknown spaces is the real test. You learn to be a lot more patient and graceful when it comes to dealing with stressful situations. Adjusting to new surroundings and meeting new people allows us to become more flexible and thus more resilient if we face any challenge.
8. Creativity Boost
Exposing your mind to a new environment boosts cognitive flexibility which helps encourage creativity. The depth of one’s thinking is reportedly linked to their imagination. Travel helps our minds go beyond the realms of conventional thinking when it is exposed to different surroundings and circumstances. With the boost in creativity comes increased productivity, problem-solving as well as innovation. Creative thinking and innovation allow one’s personality to become well-rounded and insightful. Both these quality benefit a person in their professional as well as personal life.
Traveling doesn’t just allow us to connect with our surroundings, but also ourselves. When you are left in a place unknown, you push yourself to learn something new and adapt to different circumstances.
Anthony Bourdain, in his infinite wisdom, once said, “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” Give your mind, body, and soul the fulfillment they crave.
Author Bio:
About Ashley Rosa: Ashley Rosa is a freelance writer and blogger. As writing is her passion that why she loves to write articles related to the latest trends in technology and sometimes on health-tech as well. She is crazy about chocolates. You can find her at twitter: @ashrosa2.