Anybody who has gone out of their comfort zone can understand and describe the excitement that comes from being in a new place or experiencing something different. Travelling is not only exciting but being in a completely different environment can offer certain health benefits too.

Let’s take a look at what benefits you can experience from taking a break from the regular 9 – 5:

Relieve your stress and boost your mental health

Pulling yourself out of your mundane routines and into new surroundings resets your mind and body, resulting in less stress. Any type of leisure activity such as travel, can lower your depression and improve psychological functioning. The actual planning aspect of travelling can, in itself, boost excitement and thus happiness i.e., boosting your overall mood. Travelling also expands the mind. By meeting new people and possibly learning about new cultures makes one more culturally and globally aware. This keeps the mind sharp and assists with personal growth.

Boosts creativity

Writers are often known to travel in search of inspiration and motivation for their next big novel or book. The brain is influenced by environment, meaning that travel sparks synapses in the brain and therefore enhances creativity.

It whips you into shape

This largely depends on where you plan on travelling to and what activities you’ll be engaging in. Travel can be an opportunity to escalate your fitness routines. When travelling, you are normally more active than sitting in an office chair all day. Running through an airport, walking the streets of a new city and activities like paddle boarding, hiking and swimming can boost your fitness. When touring Europe or Disney World, a traveller can easily rack up between 20,000-30,000 steps per day. In essence, a holiday is also meant to be relaxing, meaning that you’ll experience lower blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease. And the best part, you’ll be having so much fun, you’ll barely even notice that you’re doing any exercise at all!

It improves your sleep patterns

Poor sleep coupled with high stress is extremely detrimental towards mental health. Poor sleep alone is toxic for the body, however the negative factors that come along with lack of sleep include poor efficiency and lack of concentration. When you travel, you are more likely to experience a great night’s sleep as it is often the responsibility of the hotel or accommodation you’re staying at to ensure you do. Further to this, you’re often so busy with activities during the day that you’ll be begging for that snooze at the end of the day.

It changes your perspective on things

Travelling often broadens your perspectives. Not only of the world around you, but of yourself as well. At times you’ll find yourself in situations that you wouldn’t be in otherwise. You’ll be faced with the reality of living outside of your comfort zone which actually gives you the opportunity to transform how you see the things around you.

It’s no secret that travel has so many benefits to our health and wellbeing in general. So plan that next great get-away and enjoy the time off. Your mind and body will thank you for it.