Can travelling impact your stress levels?

Empirical evidence has consistently demonstrated that stress may be a risk factor for several pathologies. Evidence confirms the connection between the presence of episodic psychological stress and coronary heart disease (CHD) in clinical practice (Chazov et al. 2007; Gapharov et al. 2011). Additionally, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by persistent chronic abdominal pain and disturbance of bowel movements, is a typical digestive system psychosomatic disorder that is exacerbated by stress. A little short term stress is inevitable and won't harm you. The problem is if you are recurrently stressed long term. Persistant long term stress can effect your wellbeing and eventually have a negative effect on your health. Perceived everyday life stress nearly doubled the risk of subsequent unemployment in a working population. Stress prevention among the working population should not solely focus on stress in the workplace but also include stress from everyday life.(Thomas, 2016)

Now that everyone's universally accessible, when they leave work, work doesn't really leave them. People respond to emails and calls when they are on vacation. Probably most people are motivated to stay connected to avoid being inundated by work on their return to the office.

There are several ways and techniques to mitigate stress. These include deep breathing. exercising, practicing yoga, socializing and practicing mindfulness. Another popular method to combat stress is taking a vacation and get away from a stressful life. Unfortunately, one or two weeks off a year may do very little to counterbalance fifty weeks of stress. Nonetheless, evidence has repeatedly demonstrated the positive effects of travel experiences on perceived health and wellness (de Bloom et al.,2010).

Taking vacations, defined as taking pleasure trips outside an individual’s usual environment, is seen as an integral feature of human life for many people (Richards 1999). The benefits of travel experiences have been found to be effective. Unfortunately, the benefit seems to quickly diminish after a vacation has ended with some benefits dissipating as soon as the individual is back to routine.

So how can we have a long lasting benefit of travelling without breaking the bank?

There are several elements that make vacations so pleasurable. Among other things travelling helps to distance our minds from the stresses of everyday life, while we experience new elements. These elements might include experiencing different cultures, art, history, exposure to novelty, gastronomy, viticulture among other things. Given that evidence suggests that travel experiences have positive effects on perceived health and wellness, we can include things that we normally experience during travelling in our daily life. Here at Teninks we provide information and a cultural experience in an attempt to virtually replicate, to a minor extent, ‘pleasuretrips’.

We invite you to read articles and learn about culture, art, wellbeing and gastronomy. Enjoy!

References:

· Central, P. (1996) ‘Frayed to the breaking point’.Chen, C. C. and Petrick, J. F. (2013) ‘Health and Wellness Benefits of Travel Experiences: A Literature Review’, Journal of Travel Research, 52(6), pp. 709–719.

· Bloom, J. et al. (2010) ‘Effects of vacation from work on health and well-being: Lots of fun, quickly gone’, Work and Stress, 24(2), pp. 196–216.

· Hartig, T. et al. (2013) ‘Vacation, Collective Restoration, and Mental Health in a Population’, Society and Mental Health, 3(3), pp. 221–236.

· Laing, J. H. and Frost, W. (2017) ‘Journeys of well-being: Women’s travel narratives of transformation and self-discovery in Italy’, Tourism Management. Elsevier Ltd, 62, pp. 110–119. Mæhlisen, M. H. et al. (2018) ‘Perceived stress as a risk factor of unemployment: A register-based cohort study’, BMC Public Health. BMC Public Health, 18(1), pp. 1–12.

· Stone, M. J. and Petrick, J. F. (2013) ‘The Educational Benefits of Travel Experiences: A Literature Review’, Journal of Travel Research, 52(6), pp. 731–744