Travel may help slow the aging process. Here's how to make the most of your next trip.
According to a study published last year in the Journal of Travel Research, travel may slow the aging process. That’s because travel tends to involve so many healthful elements that aren’t as concentrated in daily life.
“Overall, travel might offer a valuable opportunity to nurture both physical and mental health, potentially slowing down the biological aging process,” said lead study author Fangli Hu, PhD candidate at the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University in Australia.
The kind of out-of-the-ordinary, mild stress that travelers experience can benefit the mind and body. By overcoming challenges like figuring out how to navigate a bus system in a new language or summiting a mountain, travelers feel confident and satisfied. Often, travelers are meeting new people while meeting these challenges, and social connection boosts mental wellness. Spending more time in nature, eating healthy local cuisine and fewer processed foods, and walking more than average may all contribute to the positive health effects of travel, too.
The study’s authors are quick to point out that not all travel experiences promote health. Coming down with an illness, getting into an accident, or becoming the victim of a crime are all risks that come with the territory. For some people, the planning and uncertainty inherent in travel produce an unhealthy kind of stress. “Some places can make people with anxiety or depression feel even more uneasy. All this negativity may not be beneficial,” said Hu, the study’s author. “So the type of travel depends on each person’s situation, their needs and their health status.”
Tips for Maximizing the Longevity Benefits of Travel
Make the most of your next trip, and its health benefits, by following these tips.
Eat like a local. One of the joys of visiting a new place is tasting its fresh and unique flavors–and those rarely show up in highly-processed foods. Travelers who seek out local food tend to add variety to their diet and may pick up new favorites that they then incorporate into their cooking back home. To help yourself make healthy choices, look for smaller restaurants that cook with local ingredients.
Safeguard your health with travel insurance. Don’t plan a trip for your health without making sure you have active health insurance for your trip. Understand how your regular health insurance will work at your destination and consider purchasing travelers’ insurance as a backup.
Explore on foot. Don’t worry about temporarily abandoning your regular exercise routine. Instead, make the most of the novel opportunities for exercise on your trip. It is one of the magical aspects of travel: when you’re exploring a new city, biking, dancing, snorkeling, or hiking, you don’t even notice how many calories you’re burning.
Drink plenty of water. When traveling, it is easy to forget to drink enough water. Carry a reusable water bottle and refill it from safe sources. While traveling abroad, understand the tap water situation at your destination before you go.
Unplug and tune in. Stay present in the moment when you’re traveling. Easier said than done, of course–email is always calling. But the more you can immerse yourself in the new, unusual, and surprising experiences you’re having on your trip, the more you stand to benefit.
Talk with strangers. It is good for you! In fact, striking up a conversation with a stranger has been shown to boost the happiness of people in countries around the world. One study attributed this happiness effect to “relational diversity,” which occurs when a person has many different kinds of interactions with people throughout the course of a day, including brief, friendly conversations. And even short-term social connections, like making someone’s acquaintance on a tour bus or chatting with a museum docent, can help alleviate loneliness. By pushing us just a little outside our comfort zone into new places, travel supports social connection, and perhaps longevity by extension.
Make travel a regular part of life. All these benefits are available to weekenders and day trippers, not just globetrotters. Your budget and schedule will limit how far and how often you can travel, but don’t let that stop you from making any plans. You can take advantage of the longevity-boosting elements of travel by planning short local trips.
Even better, take the lessons of travel and apply them to your daily life. Chat with new people, take a walk around a new block, and try new foods from your everyday grocery store. If travel slows aging, then maybe treating everyday life like an adventure can also help us live a little longer.
Sources:
https://www.scripps.org/news_items/6333-8-tips-to-eat-healthy-during-your-vacation
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/food-water-safety
https://longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle/2023/12/18/how-social-connection-supports-longevity/
