Do you realize that travel is good for your brain? It’s quite the brain booster! I love to travel and I’m also super motivated to make sure my brain span matches my lifespan. In other words, staying healthy, and especially keeping my brain healthy, is of utmost importance to me. And in my humble opinion, as a professional for many years in the health and fitness field, keeping your brain healthy should be a high priority for you, too. So isn’t it wonderful that travel is good for your brain?
Going on exciting adventures is a great way to stay active and see the world. But it can also keep your brain sharp. Here’s how.
Why Travel Is Good For Your Brain
People travel for many reasons: to relax, explore new places, meet people, or visit friends and family. The why-people-travel list is endless. Travel’s benefits are much more than broadening your physical horizons. Traveling can also be a boon for your brain health, no matter your age.
Physical activity helps your overall health. Getting out and about is always a good thing. But other aspects of travel, such as making new memories, engaging in social interactions, participating in new experiences, and just having fun, can also be beneficial for your brain.
Your next trip can help keep your brain sharp!
How travel works out your body and your brain
A key, brain-boosting element of travel is all that built-in exercise. If you’re flying, just walking through airport terminals can give your fitness tracker a workout. A sprawling resort can also help you ratchet up your steps as you go exploring. Taking guided or self-directed walking or biking tours of destinations adds to your fitness. And of course there are more active types of travels as well. Hiking in the Alps anyone?
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Then there are your day-to-day activities, such as:
- Strolling through a museum
- Touring a historical site or ruins
- Walking along the beach or nature trails
- Swimming in the ocean when visiting tropical destinations
All these movements have a payoff, both for your body and your brain. According to a review published in Neurology Clinical Practice, exercise leads to improvements in global cognition, processing speed and attention, and executive function (those are skills that help you plan ahead, meet goals, and display self-control, among other things).
All that movement helps with blood flow and keeps your muscles active. And it sends signals to the brain to maintain its sharpness. The fact that travel is an active thing will signal the brain to stay in shape.
How you can boost your brain health on vacation
Traveling isn’t just a way to exercise your body, it’s also a great workout for your brain. “Having scheduled activities will really maximize time as a brain workout,” says David A. Merrill, M.D. He’s a geriatric psychiatrist and director of Pacific Neuroscience Institute’s Pacific Brain Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
These brain helpful activities can include everything from sightseeing and museum-going to catching a play or concert, to just engaging in a different culture.
And you don’t have to travel to far away or exotic destinations to get these benefits.
There are plenty of ways to couple travel with brain health while car camping or day-tripping or on a bus tour. Simply being there will offer you opportunities to learn something new.
That could mean digging into a city’s history (open that guidebook or do searches online for more information). Maybe the people in the place you’re visiting speak a different language or have a different dialect. And while you’re away, try engaging in a new skill or two, like dancing or taking a cooking class. If you’re camping, try building a fire or setting up your tent without peeking at the directions.
Lifelong learning opportunities help to fight Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline by increasing mental function, mental stimulation, and social interaction, notes a paper published in the Delaware Journal of Public Health.
Traveling to a new place can benefit your memory.
One study showed that being in a new place could increase your empathy, energy, focus, and attention, which helps build strong memories. People often have stronger memories of a trip than they have of their own day-to-day life. Maybe you’ve noticed this in your own life.
Meeting new people while traveling has a similar effect on the brain. Maybe you’ll meet some fellow campers during that cooking class 🙂
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Being social and maintaining friendships can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia. So, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with the people hanging out at your neighbor’s campsite, sitting nearby on a train, or waiting to be seated at a busy restaurant.
Build in rest time for the brain
Of course, you don’t have to be active the entire time you’re traveling. Similar to when doing regular physical activity, schedule time for working out your brain but don’t forget time for rest and recovery.
“Try to be selective, and maybe focus on one activity per half day,” Dr. Merrill says. “And if you’d like to include some downtime, schedule that in too.” Somehow what’s scheduled gets done, right?
And don’t forget to get good quality sleep no matter which destination you’re enjoying! That’s one of the key ways your brain stays healthy.
Final Thoughts On Why Travel Is Good For Your Brain
Traveling allows you to explore new places, meet new people, and discover new cultures. And the big bonus: It helps boost your brain health. So go on vacation; it could be the healthiest move you make all year!
Looking for more ways to build a healthy brain?
Additional sources:
Brain health information: Articles and Books
Exercise and brain health: Neurology Clinical Practice
Study on travel and attention: International Journal of Cross Cultural Management
Learning and cognitive decline: Delaware Journal of Public Health
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