Welcome to my blog, Harmony Shift. Where I help shift workers live happier, healthier lives. This week we will talk about traveling and the health benefits. Getting out and traveling can have many benefits for both your mental and your physical health. Exploring new places and engaging yourself in new cultures is mentally stimulating. If you do this on a regular basis it can have great effects on your mental health. Let’s dive right in and find out how travel can benefit us.
Helping you feel calm. Taking time from work to see new places releases the stress you’ve been holding onto. Relieving the tension and stress of your work life lets your mind relax and heal. Being under pressure at work not only stresses your mind and body, but also hurts your physical health.
Allow Yourself Regular Resets.
If you make time for regular travel, it can have a better impact on your overall mental health. Some people can feel the positive impacts of their vacation getaways for up to five weeks after their return. Improving your mental power. If you have chronic stress, your memory and goal-setting abilities are negatively affected. Taking time to go somewhere and get away from work can help you feel more productive and focused when you get back. This is because your brain needs time to rest.
Increase Your Creativity.
Getting out and exploring the world can boost your creativity. People who travel more can come up with diverse ideas. Research suggests that exposure to new cultures, making international friends, studying new languages, and taking in different types of food and music have been linked to better problem-solving skills. Travel helps you see the world in a new way that otherwise you would not have seen.
Preparing and looking forward to traveling are also helpful to your mental health. If you want to plan an international trip, try practicing the language beforehand.
Plan a vacation.
Having something to look forward to and making plans to do it, creates happiness and excitement. When you take a vacation, pressure and stress are alleviated and your mental health is boosted.
Make a tradition out of it.
Research has now shown there are lasting effects of a vacation. People who travel regularly experience those effects for longer periods of time. After traveling, you’re more likely to feel clearheaded and ready to take on whatever’s waiting for you at home. This is why people are more productive after a break. Try to visit a new place every few months to help your mental health. This new place could be down the road, in another town, or in another state, but if you get into a routine every few months just go and visit somewhere than you are more productive at work, happier, and you will have better relationships.
Explore new places.
Learning new languages and going to new places opens your mind up to a whole new world you didn’t know existed. This might feel counterproductive, but getting out of your comfort zone can be good for your mental health. Your empathy increases when you go to places you’ve never been before and experience other cultures. This helps you feel more appreciative of your surroundings when you return home. Exploring new places doesn’t mean traveling overseas, it could mean just going to another state and see other places, try other foods, and learn something about the area.
Make it personal.
When traveling, go where you want to go. Traveling for pleasure, not work, has greater benefits and you are on your time, not someone else’s. When you visit somewhere you want to go, you’re more excited and your cortisol levels will decrease. My son and I have made a goal to visit one new fishing spot a month. At the end of the year, we will have found 12 new fishing places, maybe camping places too. You never know what you’ll find once you get out.
I hope this little bit of information helps you to get out and explore new things, places, food, and fun. I hope you enjoy life to the fullest. It’s not always about work and living on someone else’s terms and schedule. Sometimes you must get away to find your way back home. I encourage you to try to get out at a minimum of every 4-6 months and explore new things and enjoy life. Let me know where you go and what you’ve learned I am always excited to hear from my readers and followers.
Until next time,
Darren
Harmony Shift 