60. Mental Health Benefits of Jet Setting (AKA Travel)

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and in this episode we’re exploring all the ways that travel can positively affect your mental health and overall well being. Tune in to learn more about the science behind these benefits and how you can use your next vacation to recharge, find joy, and boost your mental health, regardless of destination or budget.

Episodes & Websites mentioned in this episode:
Irena Miller
Episode #38 features an interview with Irina in the second half of the episode. 
Episode #1 Welcome to Jet Setting with Me
Web MD:  How Travel Affects Mental Health

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Hi, jetsetters. Close your eyes. Imagine you're scrolling through Facebook, Instagram. I don't know. Maybe TikTok. I'm not on TikTok, so I don't know. And you see that caption that strikes you and says, not sure who needs to hear this today It always talks about some sort of mental health. Well, today is that podcast.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Now, I've been open and honest in the past about my struggles with mental health, and I've talked before about how vacations and especially to Walt Disney World is my happy place. But I've not talked about my very recent struggles. By the time you hear this, it's going to be at the very end of May, and I will actually be on an overseas vacation, hopefully, having one of the best times of my life. But I'm recording this in the middle of the month, May 17th to be exact. And if you've been following me on Instagram at jet studying with Michelle with 1 l, you may have seen that this entire week has been devoted to the mental health benefits of travel. And that is because it is only within this very week that the month's long cloud that I have recently been under has finally lifted for me. Just yesterday was my very first return to spin where I felt a 100% healthy and able to give my class my all, which when I got off the bike felt even better than before I got on.

So I get it. Dealing with mental health issues for me has been longer than many of you have been alive and definitely longer than many of the writers of those. Not sure who needs to hear this today post. As an aside, I actually saw one from a very good friend today who's been struggling for a year and finally was able to share because she's now on the other side of it, and it made this podcast for me all the more pertinent. It was pre pandemic when Psychology Today reported that doctor Sanders would actually prescribe trips to his patients to go to either Walt Disney World or Disneyland. He said, my patients have the choice to take these trips with their family, to help promote positive changes in their behavior and develop lifetime memories in the meantime. I usually suggest my patients purchase an annual pass to make sure that they are able to continue on their path to managing their emotions. I don't think my insurance would allow me to claim my annual pass, but it definitely helped convince mister jet setting with me that an annual pass and several trips to Disney World were better investment than other forms of therapy and medication.

And doctor Sanders believes that the psychological study state that when humans are exposed to environments encompassing the positivity and enriching experiences, they have changed patients' outlook. And Disney Parks are those examples of positive and enriching environments. But in the month of May, I canceled not one but two trips to Disney and even questioned whether my annual pass was getting the value that I hoped for it. Seems 2024 was proving to be a difficult start of the year, even though I do know we're now halfway through it. It seems like this started in February for me, and so I still feel like I'm in the beginning of my year. But travel's ability, not just travel to Walt Disney World or Disneyland or a Disney cruise, Travel's ability to reduce our day to day stress is perhaps one of its most established benefits. BBK just released a report in this past month in recognition of mental health awareness month, seeing travel allows people to connect more with others. We experience a greater relevance for nature.

We improve our health and our well-being. We encounter different ideas and experiences and grow both personally and professionally. You've heard me mention how Gen z are the trendsetters now in travel, in particular with things like set jetting and gig tripping. And 93% of these Gen z respondents agreed that travel experiences can positively impact their mental health, and it points out that regardless of generation, the number one reason that people want to travel this year is to recharge. It's my personal opinion that we're all still recovering from the trauma that was the pandemic, and that that is one reason that we are all wanting to recharge this year. Irina Miller, my personal favorite energy expert and my coach about these things, said it even better. She said we find deeper connections to ourselves through travel. And I have a link to Irina, her energy alchemy page in the show notes.

Travel can reduce depression and anxiety for many reasons. One of which is that traveling is physically active. Lord, just getting through the airport, checking your luggage, and going through TSA is physically active. But once you get past the airport travel, that can mean walking around New York City like I did a few weeks ago, doing thousands of steps traversing Walt Disney World or other theme parks, skiing down the Alps, river rafting, or yoga at a spa retreat, All things I have mentioned in previous podcasts. Virgin Voyages even has dedicated spin studio for spin at sea. And love cycling studio, if you're listening, I'm waiting for us to work on that voyage together. But physical activities help raise one's mood and therefore reduce the feelings of depression. Other ways that travel can reduce your depression and anxiety is by creating social interactions and new experiences.

Last year, when my mom and a friend of us took our Jewish heritage river cruise, which I've also talked about in previous podcasts, We made at least 3 friends that we still keep in touch with and that we still email back and forth and who are actually considering we're all gonna do a trip later this year to Morocco. Another published study, this one from a Wisconsin medical journal, found that women who vacation at least twice a year are less likely to suffer from depression and chronic stress and are even happier in their marriages at home. So that stresses to me the importance of my galpal trips. Again, you've heard me mention the VIP tour at Walt Disney World that was one of my best ever trips there and how essentially it was my best gay husband and all of my gal pals. Not all my gal pals. Excuse me. Some of my favorite travel gal pals who did a VIP tour. Traveling with my girlfriends is how I've met some of my closest colleagues, conferences, mentors, friends, and even people that I do business with and refer business to and from.

So being in a new environment encourages that mindfulness. It helps you live in the present. And my therapist would definitely say that living in the present moment is one of the best things to improve your overall mental health and well-being. Travel also can reduce job burnout. This is why we have national plan for vacation day, which was launched in 2017 for the last Tuesday of every January. The idea is that people are more likely to use their vacation days if they make a plan at the beginning of the year. According to survey findings, Americans have not used all of their vacation days since 2015, and that has negatively affected our health, our relationships, and, actually, the companies we all work for. Excessive work, which was already a serious cultural problem prior to pandemic, was actually intensified by the COVID 19 retreat that some of us are still working from in home.

Doctor Simone says that schedules disappeared, boundaries blurred, and work suddenly became a 247 enterprise that knew no limits. Yes, my fellow travel advisers, I am talking about us. Paul Thoreau, the travel writer said, and I quote, what draws me into a trip is a leap into the dark. Set out from home and in the classic travel book, you go to an unknown place and you discover a different world and you discover yourself. Now, imagine doing that for a week to help you reduce your job burnout. Another thing that can help with both mental health and reducing that job burnout is increased creativity. WebMD says that getting out and exploring the world can boost your creativity because people who travel come in contact with diverse ideas and exposure to new cultures. We make international friends.

We may study new languages such as I've mentioned before. I always try and learn hello, goodbye, where's the bathroom? Thank you so much In whatever country I'm going to be traveling in. We take in different types of food. I talk about how the local food tour is one of my must do's on every trip, even my New York trip and my bagel tour. Music, the cultural music that we may encounter, they've all been linked to better problem solving skills, and travel helps you see the world in a new way. It increases your mental resiliency. We have to overcome the hiccups. It is why I always say pack your patience when you travel.

Remember the southwest meltdown over the winter break holidays when people were trying to get home for Christmas and New Year's, and people had to work to get home or to see their families, and they rented cars. They drove for hours. They took buses. They maybe even called people to come pick them up. We have misconnections. Airport travel in general just basically sucks. Let's just put it out there. We have bad behavior by tourists, and I am not making this up.

It was in an article I read just this week about a woman who climbed to the top of the Trevi Fountain in Italy to fill her water bottle. That people at the Parthenon were engraving it with their initials. So, yeah, travel is stressful, and we have to overcome the hiccups and the bad behavior of others. It builds our confidence. It makes us problem solvers. We have to think creatively. Hence, why we love the amazing race. It is good television because we see people like our selves tossed into unfamiliar situations across the world where they often don't speak the language, or maybe they don't even know how to drive a stick shift, and they have to do challenges that test their physical and mental abilities.

A study of backpackers in Australia also proved this point. 80% of them said they perform better when the going got tough, and 88% said that made them better at problem solving and better at communicating. Look at Cheryl Strayed and Wilde for an example of this phenomenon. Travel gives us increased happiness and excitement. I just said today on an interview with travel market report, the anticipation and the planning of a trip, it is just as important as the trip itself in improving mental health. It is why I am always planning my next trip before I have even taken the one coming up, much to mister Judd setting with me's chagrin. He hates that while I'm in the middle of a cruise, I am already looking at my next cruise. Just like I'm already planning my group trip in November with those women I mentioned earlier from the river cruise to Morocco, and I haven't even left on my Sex and the City fan cruise.

Although, by the time you hear this, I will have left. I'm already looking at 2025 possible destinations like the Bridgerton tour because season 3, the first four episodes were released yesterday in real time. Or Emily in Paris because I wanna see her fashions. Again, doctor Simone, vice president and medical director of behavioral health, said that if you find yourself in a rut personally or professionally, that taking a break from your daily routine can be just the thing to break out of it. Seeing new sights, hearing new sounds, and experiencing the new stimulus, experiencing the new, stimulate different parts of your brain and boost your mood. Now you don't have to take a jet set across the pond to get the mental benefits of a travel. You should make it personal. Go where you wanna go.

It's different than traveling for business when you get to decide where you wanna go, how much time you're gonna spend, and you're more excited and your cortisol levels decrease. And whether you're planning that grand adventure or that cozy getaway, remember, even simple affordable trips to the day spa that is 20 minutes from your town center. I am talking about the Lake Austin Spa and Resort. For those of you who are not local, I highly recommend a trip here to take advantage. They can help bring you immense mental health benefits. And with that, Jetsetters, I will talk to you next week.