IF you Google “travel and mental health”, you’ll find countless articles, news stories, and research summaries highlighting the fact that taking a trip can have positive effects on your mental wellbeing. Maybe it’s the novelty of a new place, the curiosity of meeting new people, or just breaking the daily routine – travelling has a way of making us feel refreshed and reenergized, both physically and mentally.
More recently, many studies have emphasized the influence tourism has on not only one’s psychology, but long-term mental wellbeing as well. A 2020 study published in the Nature journal found that people who see more changes in scenery day-to-day tend to be happier. Another (much older) study found that women who vacation at least twice a year are less likely to suffer from depression and chronic stress than women who vacation less than once every two years.
But it’s not just the act of going on a trip that has healthy benefits, even anticipating a vacation has been shown to boost happiness. It gives new meaning to the phrase “the journey is half the fun”, doesn’t it?
A study published twenty years ago by the University of Surrey, found that people are at their happiest when they have a vacation planned. A more recent Cornell University study outlined how the anticipation of an experience increased a person’s happiness much more so than the anticipation of buying material goods.
Matthew Killingsworth, one of the co-authors of the Cornell study and now a senior fellow at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, says trip-planning encourages an optimistic outlook. “As humans, we spend a lot of our mental lives living in the future. Our future-mindedness can be a source of joy if we know good things are coming, and travel is an especially good thing to have to look forward to.”
It’s safe to say that travel, like hope, is the promise of something good on the horizon. In 2020, during the peak of a fresh pandemic, travel expert Rick Steves said this to the New York Times: “This virus can stop our travel plans, but it cannot stop our travel dreams. Planning for travel—thinking about it, talking about it, imagining it—may in fact be the best thing you can do to stay optimistic and, when this is all behind us, be ready to embark on your trip of a lifetime.”
Then there’s the fairly modern concept of ‘travel therapy’.
A study from researchers at Australia’s Edith Cowan University (ECU), conducted in collaboration with tourism and health experts and published in Tourism Management, explained that cognitive stimulation has been proven to activate the brain and prevent cognitive decline, making travel an attractive candidate for dementia intervention. According to lead researcher Dr Wen Jun, “Medical experts can recommend dementia treatments such as music therapy, exercise, cognitive stimulation, reminiscence therapy, sensory stimulation and adaptations to a patient’s mealtimes and environment. These are all also often found when on holiday.”
The thing is, travel doesn’t have to mean hopping on a plane and going overseas, either. In fact, the act of seeing new things, tasting new food, being out and about and the freedom to move around, even if it’s within your own city, is said to boost mental health.
Back in June, migrant workers in Singapore who were able to leave their dormitories and visit popular locations after restrictions were mostly lifted, said the day out with friends helped with their mental health. Shyam Chandran, a construction worker, told the Straits Times, “I’m very happy that I can practice my photography again. This is the first time in two years that I’ve been able to use my camera”. He was seen busy taking portrait shots of his friends in Jurong East.
Nevertheless, just because travel is stress-relieving doesn’t mean it’s stress-free. Crowded airports, flight delays, and a chaotic itinerary can negate the positive effects of tourism – which is why the idea of “the connected trip” is gaining traction. As mentioned during WiT Singapore 2022, the hospitality scene is undergoing a revolution to cater to the new world consumer.
So how can we fully benefit from a trip in terms of mental wellbeing? To further understand the impact of travel on one’s mental health, we spoke to Dr. Eugene Tee, Associate Professor in Psychology, HELP University.
Q: I think it’s safe to say that travel has a positive influence on one’s mental health. Could you expand on why that is, and what travel does to a person’s way of thinking?
Eugene: What pleasant positive travel experiences does is that it expands on our world views through positive emotions. So, emotions such as interests, inspiration and awe. Just to take it to extremes, some studies have shown the consequences of travel, one known as the overview effect. This is the sense of oneness, connection and awe that astronauts from space report from seeing the entirety of planet Earth from outside its atmosphere. But just to keep things grounded, we can experience positive emotions from travel experiences because they enrich our understanding of our world and the fragile yet natural beauty that it still has. Our exposure to different cultures, different customs can certainly foster tolerance of different beliefs, practices, and really helps us connect with our fellow men and women. So ultimately, what I think travel does is that it gives us a lot of psychological richness.
Q: What would be the perfect length of a vacation or holiday for someone to feel the positive effects of travel?
Eugene: I think it’s important to not rush your travel experiences, I think the ideal or the optimal length for vacation depends on a whole bunch of other factors, right? People you’re traveling with, or the activities you get up to, but if you want a more precise answer to this, one study published by the Journal of Happiness shows that the ideal vacation time is about eight days. So specifically, people’s ratings of health and wellbeing peaked on the eighth day of their vacation – in a study where the vacations were typically about 23 days on average. But the study also suggested, importantly, and I think this is a crucial point… that it is the engagement in activities that allows one to savor, and to dwell upon, and to prolong the experience of positive emotions from your vacation – what this does, when you savor, when you take it a little bit slow, is that it helps moderate and spread out the enjoyment and wellbeing benefits of being on that holiday.
“I would stress not to rush through the getaway and to take your time to savour the experience.” ~ Dr Eugene Tee, Associate Psychologist, HELP University
Q: For those who can’t afford long vacations or trips overseas, what’s a good alternative to enjoy the same psychological benefits?
Eugene: So a weekend getaway might do the trick and might be a viable alternative that allows you to scope out hidden spots, impromptu road trips can be quite fun, so that allows you to inject some positive emotions through novelty in your lives. Again, I would stress not to rush through the getaway and to take your time to savour the experience. I know this is less appealing as an alternative to some but I found myself really enjoying virtual tours and walkabout videos on places that I wanted to travel to but wasn’t able to go because of the lockdown – you’ll find plenty of these videos on YouTube. So it was a temporary beneficial way, to me at least, that allowed me to immerse myself in a travel experience. At the very least it was a healthy distraction and I found these micro-moments of immersion to be quite therapeutic.
Q: How can the travel and hospitality industry tap into this information, and the connection between mental health and travel, to better serve consumers?
Eugene: I think it’s safe to say that not all holidays are created equal. Some are definitely going to be more beneficial to your wellbeing and your connections to others. Going back to the research published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, activities that allow engagement in passive activities – savoring, pleasure, relaxation, control… but I think most important but often overlooked during travel – sleep, right? These are all associated with health and wellbeing gains from holidays. I think if it hasn’t been done already, a market for forms of travel that directly benefit mental health, with options to engage and immerse with nature – Japan has a term for this called forest-bathing, for instance – these can be options for travellers wishing to avoid the usual commercial tourist traps and to swap that out for something slower paced and ultimately better for their wellbeing.
Q: Travel can also be stressful – flight delays, crowded airports, late check-ins, traffic in a new city. How does one circumvent these things, so they don’t add stress instead of reducing it?
Eugene: I only have three words to to this question. The words will be Plan, Plan and Plan – there are definitely going to be factors beyond your control like delays and cancellations. I would advise doing your best to ensure that you have most of what you can control planned out and an itinerary in place before traveling. The itinerary helps as there’s over-estimating the time it will take for you to get from one point of your travel to another. Book in advance whenever possible, prep for contingencies… and for me it’s worked out quite well to travel during off-peak periods, if possible. Basically, whatever you have within your control – exert that agency over your travel plans, or say, let someone handle it for you if you’re part of part of a tour.
Q: If someone (traveller / agent / app) were to design a travel plan revolving around mental wellbeing, what factors should they consider and what would that plan look like?
Eugene: An idea that came to mind when I thought about this is and again, I’m not sure if this has been done yet – but to design an app that divides up travel plans and options according to the activities that would benefit wellbeing. So this might mean designing an app that allows opportunities for people to connect with nature or the great outdoors. If they prefer something more along the lines of connecting with others, offer social activities that allow for those meaningful connections. Craft, culture, culinary experiences… surely an app can advise and suggest those experiences, too. And it doesn’t need to be just mutually exclusive, right? You could have a social culinary experience or physical activity and wellness, or you might have an app that suggests things that travelers can do to engage in those activities. I’d personally benefit from a trip that allowed me to have a more immersive learning experience. I love going to museums and exhibits and learning about the culture of a place, while a friend of mine might prefer to travel to enjoy new culinary experiences. So again, not mutually exclusive, we could have both right – apps that tailor those experiences and to plan out a customized itinerary for us. The app of course can be accompanied by the usual details like price range, hours needed, and people needed for the experience. So if it hasn’t been done so already, an app that offers and features at its forefront, experiences over just the destinations.
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