WeedMD's Tips for Healthy Living. Tip #8: Explore

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller

We all know that there are many things we can do to help improve our overall health.  Eating well, getting regular exercise, ensuring a good night’s sleep, these are all steps we can take to feel better, look better, and live longer.  However, there are also several less obvious things we can do to enhance our physical and emotional wellbeing.  Here are just a few ways in which travel contributes to our good health:

• Studies suggest that students that travel abroad are twice as likely to complete a college degree than their non-travelling counterparts. They also tend to out-earn their peers by more than 40%.

• Workers who take time off to travel are generally more productive employees and are more focused and less likely to suffer from burnout.

• Exposing oneself to new experiences can challenge the brain and promote brain health. This is further enhanced by the physical activity associated with travel.

• Vacationing not only relieves stress and helps to counter feelings of depression, it can also contribute to weight loss and lower blood pressure.

• Researchers also believe that travel can trigger synapses in the brain that enhance creativity.

In addition to being more active and mentally alert, travel also provides an opportunity to build a closer connection to yourself and others.  In the course of travel, you inevitably meet people that you might not otherwise have the opportunity to connect with and these connections tend to be deeper since it often involves sharing new experiences.  Research also indicates that when you extend beyond your comfort zone, your confidence increases and you reinforce your personal identity, values and beliefs.