The Health Benefits of Travel

How travel can improve your life, according to science.

At Terra & Tu, we love to travel. We’ve always found that exploration goes hand in hand with wellness. Placing ourselves in new and unfamiliar surroundings gives us the chance to step back, reset and discover both the world around us and ourselves. Science agrees — from reaching your career goals to caring for your mental and physical health, research shows that there are more perks of travel than we think. Here’s how you can reap the benefits of travel (and have fun doing it).

Job Performance and Travel

Whether you’ve fallen into the trap of stashing personal days away and saving money for a special trip we end up never taking. Epic vacations cross our minds and enter our dreams, only to fall by the wayside as life interrupts us. But, by applying an evidence-based mindset shift, we can make the most of our precious time off.

The first thing to do is to stop feeling guilty about using your hard-earned vacation time. If you love to travel but view taking a vacation as indulgent or unproductive, you may actually be hampering your work performance. A study by Boston Consulting Group agrees—after evaluating employees who were forced to take time off versus those who weren’t, they concluded that those who took time off showed significantly better performance than the group that didn’t. Furthermore, they reported finding work-related tasks easier once they returned. Travel enhances the results of time off, and employees who travel during this vacation time have been shown to experience lower rates of burnout and stress. Other research has even suggested that workers who take more time off and travel have increased chances of getting a raise, helping you save up for your next adventure.

Mental Health and Travel

Caring for mental health is even more important outside the office, where it provides the foundation for leading a fulfilled and passionate life. If your normal environment and routines feel stagnant, research shows that taking a trip refreshes your perspective and recharges energy. According to the American Psychological Association, a temporary change of scenery helps relieve stress by giving us space from the places and activities we associate with stress and anxiety. 

Not only does travel relieve everyday stress, but studies have also shown that taking a vacation can reduce symptoms of depression and other mental illnesses. Plus, these effects don’t end when your trip does: research suggests that your time away can help you cope with new stressors, so you’ll be prepared when the time comes to turn off your “out of office” email reply. Even trips as short as three days have been shown to alleviate perceived stress and lower levels of cortisol—the stress hormone—so don’t wait to start planning your next long weekend getaway.

Physical Health and Travel

The act of traveling isn’t just beneficial to the mind — it promotes physical health, too. Research has shown that individuals who travel frequently are generally healthier and live longer than those who don’t. Again, the decreased production of cortisol comes into play as the hormone is known to trigger weight gain, headaches, digestive issues, poor sleep, and difficulties with memory and concentration If you’ve been feeling run down, taking a trip might be just what you need.

Remarkably, frequent travelers even live longer than non-travelers. One study found that those embracing a traveling lifestyle had significantly fewer heart attacks, as well as a lower risk of coronary heart disease. In fact, study participants who didn’t take a vacation for more than 3 years were 30 percent more likely to have a heart attack and had an overall 20 percent greater risk of death. A vacation and longer life? That sounds like a pretty good deal to us.

Terra & Tu has set out to create wellness vacations that go above and beyond what you’d find at most yoga retreats. We specialize in wellness adventures that both restore and excite, and our pros will keep things running smoothly, leaving you to enjoy your next destination.