Travel is often viewed as an indulgence or a luxury, one of life’s “extras” that make life more enjoyable. But what if travel were beneficial enough to be considered a healthy habit, right alongside eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep?
Getting away from home is certainly not a necessity for survival (though avid travelers may argue otherwise). But travel offers a range of mental, emotional, social, and physical health benefits that might shift how we see it. If you’re on the fence about taking the trip or trying to justify it to yourself, we talked to some health experts to back you up.
The mental health benefits of travel
A boost in neuroplasticity
Dr. MaryEllen Eller, a board-certified psychiatrist with Radial Health, tells Upworthy that being in a new environment and exploring new things reinforces our sense of self-efficacy and builds our confidence. It also affects our brains.
“The process of going to new places and seeing new things improves our brain’s ability to pay attention to the things that matter most,” she said. “The process of novelty and exploring new experiences increases the release of dopamine and helps boost neuroplasticity.”
Getting away from stuck patterns and mental chatter
“What I see consistently in my work is that travel does something therapy alone sometimes can’t,” said Emily Woods, a licensed psychotherapist and co-owner of Pure Direction. “It physically removes people from the environments and routines that reinforce their stuck patterns. The nervous system responds to novelty, and getting out of a familiar context can interrupt anxiety loops, low-grade depression, and the kind of emotional numbness that creeps in when life feels too predictable.”
Woods tells Upworthy that navigating a new place can also help quiet the “mental chatter” that often runs in the background of our minds.
The social health benefits of travel
Strengthening relationships
Anyone who’s been on a family trip might question whether it had a positive or negative effect on their relationships. Travel often comes with challenges that can test our patience with one another. However, clinical counselor supervisor and founder of Therapy Trainings, Matt Grammer, LPCC-S, tells Upworthy that the shared experiences and uninterrupted connections that travel facilitates help strengthen relationships.
Additionally, a University of Massachusetts Amherst literature review on the benefits of travel for families and relationships found that the body of existing studies “showed travel as a means to improve communications within a relationship, reduce the possibility of divorce, strengthen lifelong family bonds and increase a sense of well-being in adults and children.”
Travel helps build shared memories with others, which in itself helps us feel more connected.
Boosting communication skills
“Travel even changes how people communicate,” Grammer told Upworthy. “Travel provides the opportunity for people to communicate in a new, refreshing, and purposeful way, away from the distractions and habits of daily life.”
Going someplace new also forces us to interact with new people. If we travel far enough, we may have to communicate with people who speak a different language as well.
“Even attempting to speak a new language can improve your communication skills and show respect to locals,” Dr. Ravi Gill, a health psychologist, told The Travel Psychologist. “If communication causes some nerves, perhaps explore communication through body language and learn to express yourself without words.”
Conversations with your travel companions and strangers alike can help you feel more connected to others, which is key to health and longevity.
The physical health benefits of travel
Doing the basics better
Nutrition, exercise, and sleep are the fundamental building blocks of physical health, and travel can help us with all three.
“Physically, many trips allow us to prioritize sleep, nutrition, and in some cases, movement, all of which support energy regulation and overall health,” Erin Clifford, a licensed professional counselor and author of Wellness Reimagined: A Holistic Approach to Health, Happiness, and Harmony, told Upworthy. “When we sleep and eat better, we often experience improvements in focus, resilience, and sustained performance.”
Grammer agrees that travel tends to inspire healthy behaviors. “People sleep differently and rest, engage in activities that get them moving, and spend more time outdoors,” he said.
Stress reduction
Not all travel is created equal when it comes to physical health, of course. Some trips naturally increase your daily step count and have you eating better than you do at home. But if your travels mostly involve lounging around and binging on heavy foods, you may not experience all the potential benefits. However, stress reduction has its own health benefits.
Clifford says certain kinds of travel can maximize health benefits:
“Many of my clients are seeking experiences that help them reset their nervous systems, improve sleep and create space for reflection. Destinations that offer a blend of structure and flexibility are the best for mental and physical well-being, long after the trip is over. When places offer things like guided movement, mindfulness practices, access to nature and opportunities to unplug, people tend to have the best outcomes and get the most of those mental and physical benefits.”
Travel brings your awareness and attention to the present
Most of the experts we talked to mentioned that travel helps us live in the now and be mindful of the present moment.
Stephanie Grunewald, PhD, a former clinical psychologist who focuses on holistic, nature-based practices, expands on that idea:
“Travel is good for you, but not for the reason most people think. At home, your brain runs on autopilot. You stop noticing the route to work, the taste of your morning tea, and the sounds of your own backyard. Your senses go quiet because nothing is new. Travel reverses that. In an unfamiliar place, your brain has to pay attention again. You notice the little details: the smell of the air and the texture of the ground beneath your feet. That sensory re-engagement is the actual mechanism behind why people feel more alive when they travel.
There’s science behind this. Studies on travelers show measurable increases in openness and a greater willingness to change long-held patterns. There’s also a growing body of research showing that time in nature lowers cortisol and calms the stress response. This happens because time outdoors and in novel surroundings effortlessly capture your attention, so your brain isn’t burning energy to stay focused. A landscape you’ve never seen before captures your attention without any conscious effort on your part.
While I love and encourage travel, the healthy habit isn’t traveling more. It’s learning to bring that same attention home… to your garden, your morning walk, to ten minutes outside every day. Travel reminds you what it feels like to be awake to your surroundings. The real health benefit is refusing to lose that the moment you unpack.”
There you go. If you needed an excuse to say yes to the trip, you now have plenty of health reasons to go for it guilt-free.
