105. Mental Health Awareness Month: Mental Health Benefits of Travel

Can travel really boost your mental health, or is that just a convenient excuse to take a trip? The truth is, it's backed by science. In today’s episode, I’m sharing five research-supported ways travel can positively impact depression, burnout, emotional resilience, and overall happiness. I’ll also be sharing a few personal stories along the way, plus a little inspiration to start planning your next adventure!

Connect with Michele on IG: @jetsettingwithmichele or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/MMTinsiders

Contact Michele to plan your next vacation: www.makinmemoriestravel.co/contact

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com. 

Transcript

Hello, Jetsetters, and welcome back to another episode of Jetsetting with me. Happy May. Can you believe we made it? May is mental health awareness month, and I always like to do an episode that is honest and transparent about my own struggles with mental health and why travel helps me. But this is not just about my personal experiences. There is medical basis and journal articles to back all of this up. Today, I am going to share five key reasons that are backed by research and, of course, my real life experience to show you how stepping away from the daily grind can refresh your mind like nothing else. Now I said this is always close to my heart because I, myself, struggle with mental health issues. I have pretty much my whole life.

I'm on medication so that it's very well controlled. But, you know, it rears its head in interesting ways. And as I'm recording this, I have just returned from a funeral, a funeral of a cousin who was in her eighties and who, when her son spoke at the funeral, said this too is for the best. She was in a lot of pain, so sometimes we have to say that bad things or unhappy occasions are for the best. But I found myself feeling really guilty at the funeral. One, of course, it brings back memories of my dad, who I lost two years ago. This was at the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, so I don't really go see their graves often, but I did, of course, go and visit them there. In Judaism, we live a stone, so I like to say, you know, I left a stone for my grandparents.

But, of course, that brought up the memories of my dad. And then, of course, there's this happiness that I feel when I am around my extended family, my cousins, my first and second, well, actually, my second and third cousins, and meeting their children in a new generation. It was actually, you know, enjoyable and pleasant. And, of course, that brings up all kinds of guilt. And so I learned about myself through this that travel is not just my happy place and not just the way that I reduce my mental stress, but also my love language and how I took what was an unhappy occasion in my brain that I was filtering in a sad way and made it something that could maybe bring happy experience. In Judaism, we say the word simcha, something to be joyous about out of it. And we're gonna cover that, or I'm gonna tell you more about that as I talk about these five key reasons so that travel is good for us. And one is what I was just talking about, the reduced depression and anxiety.

So traveling can be physically active. You can count your steps while you're walking around the theme park. You can ski down the Alps. You can river raft down the, Grand Canyon, or you do yoga at a spa retreat. Virgin Voyages, the newest cruise brand, even has a dedicated spin studio. These activities, just like they say exercise at home does for our serotonin levels, raise your mood and reduce any feelings of depression that you might have. Other ways travel reduces depression and anxiety, creates social interactions and new experiences. So always talk about how I love a good food tour or a cooking class, trying new food, so, like, a reindeer egg in The UK.

Or maybe you're traveling by yourself for the first time, and you're pushing your boundaries, and you go to a meetup on a cruise ship, or you meet others on that escorted group tour bus. So you've got those social interactions and those new experience all wrapped up together in a travel bite. And a published study in a Wisconsin medical journal I told you this wasn't just my feelings. This was real medical articles and science behind this, found that women who vacation at least twice a year are less likely to suffer from depression and chronic stress. So I've met some of my closest colleagues, mentors, friends, and even business collaborators while traveling. My Laplands trip that I'm leading that group in 2026 in February is with a fellow travel adviser who I first met when we did the Lapland's fam together in January of this year. So being in that new environment, it encourages mindfulness. It encourages you to live in the moment, which can improve your overall mental well-being.

My recent trip to Disney, I spoke about how I chose the premium lightning lane, and then I noticed I was able to be more present in the moment, And I noticed the attention to detail on the attractions, which I had missed on several of my recent trips to Disney because I was too busy trying to book my next lightning lane. Number two, travel and vacation time reduces our job burnout. Travel's ability to reduce our day to day stress is perhaps one of its most established and yet not talked about enough benefits. So burnout, that heavy fog of exhaustion, the cynicism, the diminished motivation many of us face after working twelve hour days or on the weekends or relentless work and stress. Vacations serve as a powerful antidote. They force you to take that meaningful break from daily pressure and demands. Step away from those emails. Ugh.

How many emails are in your inbox right now? It's depressing for me. Deadlines. I have a huge website deadline tomorrow. The constant hustle that your brain can shift gears, going from our everyday survival mode into recovery mode. This mental reset, it's gonna help replenish our energy stores. It reduces our daily emotional exhaustion. You know? Come on. You're probably in the car picking up kids from soccer practice, and now you have to go home and put dinner on the table and help with homework.

You know the emotional exhaustion I am talking about. Well, travel's gonna rekindle your enthusiasm for your passions. Studies show that even a short getaway, a staycation, can lower your cortisol levels. That's the hormone linked to stress, and most of us have it in overdrive. It leads to a clear mind and a renewed focus. For travelers, this means not only the stunning memories, but with a revitalized spirit that's ready to tackle life's challenges head on. And in fact, the gains in our reduced stress and cortisol and reducing burnout are so pronounced that in January of nineteen twenty two, our neighbors to the North, whom we love, Canada. Their National Park Service, known as Parks Canada, developed a program called PARX, the shortened of Parks prescription, and it allows doctors to prescribe travel by way of a free annual pass to Canada's national parks for patients who could benefit from time spent in nature.

And it doesn't just mean nature. In 2019, our very own doctor Sanders here in The US of psychiatry today, he started prescribing trips to his patients to experience the magic of a trip to a Disney theme park. I kid you not, it is how I justify my annual pass to my, quote, unquote, happy place, hashtag Walt Disney World. Doctor Sanders says, my patients have the choice to take trips with their family to help promote positive changes in their behavior, and they develop lifetime memories at the same time. Number three, you increase your creativity. WebMD says that getting out and exploring the world can boost your creativity. People who travel more come up with more diverse ideas. We see the world as a true it's a small world.

Exposure to new cultures, meeting and making international friends, learning words like hello, thank you, and where's the restroom, in new languages, taking in the different types of food, dance, music. They have all been linked to better problem solving skills. Travel helps you see the world in a new and creative way. Take the brand new epic universe that opens later this month. It is helping us explore new universes on steroids. Like, you literally have to walk through portals into the new immersive land. And in the case of the Ministry of Magic attraction, you go walking through flu powder. Talk about creative flu powder.

To get into the queue. The new Epic Universe commercials literally show a character, I think she's a mom, stepping into her TV screen and into the reality of the theme park. That is creativity. Number four, you get increased mental resiliency. You will overcome hiccups. Do you remember that Southwest meltdown not too long ago? Actually, it was probably a few years ago. But it was over the holidays, and people had to work to get home. They had to rent cars.

They had to drive for hours. There's misconnections. When I was going to the Laplands in February, bad weather was gonna hit Dallas, Fort Worth, and it backed up flights, and I knew I was gonna miss my connection. And so I quickly had to grab a middle seat all the way to Miami. That's almost a three hour flight. A middle seat, I gave up my great overhead bin space because, of course, I usually purchase an upgraded, you know, ticket that gets me to board early. Maybe you're crossing borders now. Maybe you're stuck in a passport renewal cycle.

Maybe you don't understand the new transit passes and tourist visas that you have to get in Europe. I mean, who would blame you? Those rules are evolving daily. You have to take mass transit in an unfamiliar city. Getting through challenges builds your confidence, and it makes you a better problem solver. That is why we love good reality television. The amazing race, for example. We see people like ourselves who are tossed into unfamiliar situations, who often don't speak the language, or they don't know how to drive their rental car because it's a stick shift. They haven't eaten, and they're exhausted, and they have to do challenges that then test their physical, mental abilities, and their overall positive outlook.

Number five. Travel gives us increased happiness and excitement. So anticipation and the planning of a trip are just as important as a trip in itself in improving mental health. And I'm gonna go back to where I saw my cousins at the funeral. And seeing my cousins and thinking about how nice it would be to see them for a positive occasion instead of when we all gather for funerals, which as the generations start to shift are shifting, has become, sadly, all too often, that I could plan a great multigenerational family cruise. And even before I speak that idea out loud, you are the first to hear it. I have already decided what kind of cruise ship would be fun for the next and future generations, What is easy enough to get around for the older generation that might have accessibility issues? What crews could fit everyone's budget? And for those who can afford a bit more, allow them to upgrade. I, myself, already have three group trips on the books for 2026, the February Laplands trip, the spring trip into The UK for Bridgerton fans, and in the fall, a trip to the country of this past season of the White Lotus in Thailand.

Behavioral Health Writer, Paul Simone, he's a PhD, so doctor Paul Simone says, if you find yourself in a rut, personally or professionally, taking a break from your daily routine can be just the thing to break you out of it. Seeing new sights, hearing new sounds, and experiencing the new stimulus creates experiencing the new, stimulates different parts of your brain, and it boosts your mood. So hatching the idea of my family cruise, I immediately felt better. Even if ultimately it doesn't happen, just my ability to think of the idea and try to cultivate it in my head made me feel energized and able to drive home from the funeral. As I said, travel is my love language, and the idea of sharing an experience with friends and family brings me great comfort. Now there is no one size fits all solution in travel. To feel energized, relaxed, and experience a sense of joy during your travels, consider incorporating some of these activities that I've already mentioned into your next vacation. Hiking, water sports, yoga, massage, spa experiences, including when I did Khaman in Morocco, mineral baths or the saunas in Nordic regions, voluntourism where you can book activities, support a local community, take in a live theater in the West End, or an immersive cultural experience like the cooking classes or the food tours that I love.

My family, we love to find a new Segway tour and count the number of countries we've done one on. Not sure what to do? Enlist me, your travel professional, to help you get the best mental health benefits out of your hard earned vacation time. Until next week, jet setters. Happy and healthy travels to all of you.