Why Traveling Is A Great Way To Overcome Depression
Although no scientific research has been made into the connection of positive effects of travel on our mental well-being, many people suffering from depression have spoken about the ways in which encountering different situations, people and experiences through travel has allowed them to overcome depression or help cope with their depression in a natural way. However, I’ll try my best here to explain why Traveling Is a Great Way to Overcome Depression!
Why Traveling Is A Great Way To Overcome Depression
Thanks to Endorphins and oxytocin
Endorphins and oxytocin play a huge role in the chemistry of our brain and the way our mood affects the way we perceive ideas, thoughts and beliefs. By traveling, endorphins and oxytocin are released in myriad ways through different experiences we encounter. Travel forces the brain to make use of these hormones to improve our mood and outlook.
A survey was conducted that found traveling is a massive mood booster for people, with vacations and longer trips fulfilling that much-needed sweet spot, whether it’s to spend time with family and friends or to just get away and recuperate.
Getting Out And Meeting People Helps Overcome Depression
Depression can often bring with it social anxiety or anti-social tendencies. Meeting new people can become something you want to avoid and you may have trouble connecting with others. At home, meeting new people can be hard but when traveling, you are more likely to meet open, friendlier people who are easy to strike up conversations with. Traveling creates a common bond between fellow travelers because a lot of you are sharing similar experiences. You can encounter experiences like volunteering where meeting people less fortunate than you can be humbling and allows you to focus and appreciate the good things in your own life as well as the other volunteers you get to know through the process.
Meeting people from all walks of life can often bring out ideas, advice and beliefs that may never have occurred to you before. In the long-run, friendships carved from traveling can be a constant reminder of your positive memories and help you with containing your depression once you’re back home and improving your outlook on life.
Mother nature Can Be A Natural Anti-Depressant
Never underestimate the vast beauty and wonder that Mother Earth provides and its effect on us as humans. Traveling can cultivate a sense of awe that we don’t necessarily get the chance to notice when we’re seeing the same places and people everyday at home.
Awe has a huge affect on our well-being and happiness and this is in abundance when traveling to different cities and countries. Being at one with nature may sound a bit spiritual and mystical but research has found it’s a real way of beating depression. Traveling creates an immense amount of opportunities that help expose us to more of what this planet has to offer us mentally.
Travelling takes your mind off the hardest of situations and gives you an entirely new perspective to envision your life. Our brain is wired to think and over-think negatively when we are idle. And sometimes all you need is just an escape from everything, and let Nature embrace you with its open arms.
If you feel anxious, travel. If you are plagued by depression over anything, travel. If the world is falling beneath your feet, just leave that world and travel.
