The Psychological Benefits of Vacation
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There’s a reason we long for travel when we’re in a funk. While routines can be very beneficial, the day-in-day-out slog can become a tedious rut. Couple this with screen addiction and all the stress of modern living, and you have a recipe for burnout. It may be time for a getaway, or perhaps something more meaningful.
There are different kinds of restorative travel depending entirely on what you’re hoping to restore. If you’re exhausted, you may just need some fun in the sun with a poolside vacation. If you’re bored, restless, and needing to make new memories, you may need to go on an adventure. And if you’ve started to lose your sense of purpose or question who you are, it may be time for a pilgrimage.
Of course, if you need a vacation and wind up on an adventure, you’ll be very cranky, and if you crave an adventure and wind up on a vacation, you’ll feel unchallenged, and if you long for a pilgrimage, you’ll stare off at the horizon no matter where you are. So, let’s look at the psychological benefits of travel to truly understand the difference and how each kind of journey can be helpful.
Vacation: Rejuvenating Travel
Psychologists have studied vacations a lot, because if you have to pick a research project, why not make it a fun one? Jokes aside, we’ve learned that pique happiness doesn’t occur during the vacation, or even when you return— it occurs during the planning phase. In other words, we’re happiest about our vacation before we go on vacation!
Anticipating a getaway can boost our mood up to eight weeks before departure, as it gives us something to look forward to. Maybe we’re daydreaming about it, or planning an itinerary, or mapping a destination, or practicing phrases in a new language. Whatever the case, the prospect of travel can renew our sense of hope, allowing us to see beyond whatever humdrum routine we find ourselves in.
Of course, there are mental health benefits to actually going on your vacation, too. Since novelty stimulates dopamine, we can really enjoy new environments, especially when we do something we’ve never tried before. One study found that people who spent their money on experiential activities, like travel, reported higher degrees of vitality, presence, and happiness than those who just spent their money on material rewards. On top of this, sharing positive experiences with our loved ones has been shown to deepen our interpersonal bonds. Whether we’re building sandcastles with our kids or sharing a quiet sunset with a partner, these moments contribute to a reservoir of positive shared memories.
Returning home, we can maintain the glow from our vacation for a few weeks to over a month. Researchers at the University of Vienna found that participants who were satisfied with their vacation reported improved mood and reduced stress up to five weeks later. Leisurely activities, like hiking, e-biking, swimming, yoga, and golf have great benefits, too, as one study found that even a four-night trip significantly decreased overall stress. Just a few nights away, having some healthy fun, reduced feelings of dejection, irritability, tiredness, and malaise, while simultaneously boosting rest, relaxation, happiness and satisfaction.
Adventure: Exhilarating Travel
Now we can all get behind a relaxing getaway, but what drives some people to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet, or scale a cliff with nothing but a rope, raw grit, and a pocketful of carabiners? Adrenaline-seeking behavior isn’t abnormal, especially when we consider how much the tourist industry makes from parasailing, zip-lining, bungee jumping, or even that glass bridge that extends over the Grand Canyon!
It turns out that risk-taking, when done safely with skill, deliberation, and intention, can become a potent form of stress relief, self-discovery, and mental resilience.
This has a lot to do with eustress, which is the positive form of stress we experience when we’re challenged but not overwhelmed. While research warns that high sensation-seeking behavior can lead to self-destructive habits like substance abuse, gambling addictions, or even dangerous stunts, there is a zone of calculated risk where we can flourish and grow. By deliberately spiking our adrenaline, we flirt with our fight-or-flight response, sharpening our senses.
Yet because we chose the danger, because we elected to scare ourselves, our sense of control allows us to shift terror to exhilaration. In this way, we become more familiar with the ups and downs of our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, building our resilience to stress rather than eroding it. At its core, this is exposure therapy, yet instead of overcoming a specific fear, we’re learning to navigate fear itself. Indeed, by confronting fear in a controlled way, we teach ourselves to experience fear without panic.
In these exhilarating moments, we enter what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called a flow state. We become totally immersed in the here and now with a focus so absolute that time disappears. These flow states are linked to greater well-being, creativity, and life satisfaction. Why? Because when we’re free-falling through the clouds, or grappling with a cliff, or in a shark cage facing the jaws of the deep, we don’t worry about our taxes. We are radically present.
Of course, we don’t have to go to such extreme lengths to do this. In fact, traveling alone can often feel like an adventure, especially when we’re out of our comfort zone. Solo trips can be intimidating yet simultaneously rewarding, as these life experiences increase our resilience and improve both our problem-solving skills and our social skills. There will be rivers to cross, hurdles to jump, and moments when we feel completely lost—and that’s exactly why it’s exciting!
In this way, the low-level stress of travel can build our tolerance to anxiety and uncertainty. Not only this, but when we’re on our own, free from social pressures, we get to lean into our intrinsic motivation, which reinforces our sense of authenticity and self-empowerment. Navigating cultural landscapes and geographic ones, too, helps us grow as people, improving our scores on creativity and problem-solving tasks. In fact, many solo travelers report being more adaptable, resourceful, socially confident, and open to new experiences than when they first set out.
These exciting trips can shake us up and wake us up when we’ve been feeling numb to life. Yet the excitement does fade over time. Sure, we can maintain these good vibes by reminiscing about our experiences, sharing pictures, telling stories, and integrating small things we’ve learned into our daily lives. Yet, there is an inevitable fade-out to vacations and adventures. There is, however, another way to travel which may have a deeper impact on our psychological health.
Pilgrimage: Purpose-Driven Travel
The word pilgrimage is often used to describe a sacred or spiritual journey. For some, this may be a religious, cultural, or ancestral path, yet for others it’s a secular road of self-discovery. If a vacation seeks rest and relaxation, and an adventure seeks thrill and excitement, then a pilgrimage seeks meaning, transformation, connection, and integration of the self. These long excursions can certainly incorporate elements of vacation and adventure, as one inevitably finds safety and excitement along the trail, but they’re treated as milestones, not destinations. Yes, we will relax at the oasis, and yes, we will rage against the storm, but we’re being called to something bigger.
While a pilgrimage may often have a trail to walk, a sacred site to reach, or a special date to attend, it’s the journey itself that’s most important as we venture into the unknown. Anthropologist Victor Turner described pilgrimage as a “liminal experience,” a threshold space between what was and what is yet to be. Perhaps we’re letting go of our ego, or our doubt, or our social roles, or some outdated belief that’s haunted us for far too long. Such existential travel provides an opportunity for our identity to become fluid, so that we can experiment with new thoughts, new connections, and even a whole new way of being. The experience itself fosters this, as a pilgrimage doesn’t have a jam-packed itinerary. It’s slow, mindful, taking time to immerse us in the real world with every one of our senses. A delicious meal in an unexpected place. A captivating aroma in a whole new garden. A cold rain on our hike. An enchanting song in a language we don’t understand.
Just as vacations and adventures can improve our stress response, these kinds of intentional walkabouts can be very healing, as they break from the mundane to explore our holistic connection to life itself. This kind of journey can be physically and financially taxing, yet it can renew our sense of purpose, especially when we’re struggling with depression, grief, and trauma. Sometimes, in order to process great pain, we need our external world to match our internal experience. In this way, walking through physical landscapes can mirror our emotional journey, as overcoming physical hardships in a meaningful context exemplifies who we are and what we’re capable of.
Although solitude can be part of a pilgrimage, many routes foster deep social connections by meeting other travelers on the road. Shared vulnerability, storytelling, and collective ritual help pilgrims experience communitas, a sense of egalitarian fellowship and belonging. This is most relevant in this day and age, when even the US Surgeon Generals had to declare that we are, collectively, in an epidemic of loneliness.
It’s no wonder that modern psychology has begun to recognize this kind of purpose-driven travel as a path to growth and healing. Elements of pilgrimage, like intention, simplicity, and self-reflection, are often repackaged into nature-based therapy programs, therapeutic retreats, and walking therapy, yet there’s no substitute for the real thing. Therapists may even recommend intentional travel or symbolic rituals to support the process of identity reformation when a client is on the edge of a significant life transition.
Ultimately, a pilgrimage is more than just travel. It’s a ritual of change. It is to leave the known in search of something sacred—and to return, not with souvenirs, but with a deeper sense of self.
What’s Right For Me?
Given that vacation time is scarce and travel can be costly, how can we determine what’s best for us? To answer this, check in with your unique brand of fatigue, as there’s more than one kind of exhaustion!
If you’re physically tired and your muscles feel weak and your brain is foggy, you may just need to rest. While a tropical resort is ideal, if you can’t afford it consider a staycation, just make sure it’s outside of the house! Remember the novelty effect. New places can be fun, and new places make new memories, so don’t just stay at home. Look around to see what’s available in your area or in the next town over. Is there a spa or a massage parlor you could visit? A riverbank to sunbathe on with a picnic of your favorite food? Even a camping trip with a fishing rod and a hammock can provide an easy, restful getaway.
If you’re exhausted by routine and find yourself loathing your predictable schedule, you may need to make an exciting new memory. First, daydream about things you’ve always wanted to do. Write your bucket list, and then literally plug these adventures into your calendar to see what’s feasible. Some adventures, like bungee jumping, you can do on a free weekend, but others require you to increase your stamina and endurance. You don’t just start with Mount Everest; you have to work your way up to it.
In any case, if you’re feeling trapped in your life, it may be time to investigate what excites you. Just keep in mind that excitement and anxiety ride the same sympathetic nervous system, so you’re going to balance giddiness and nervousness. There will be moments where you’ll try to talk yourself out of it, because what you’re embarking on is kind of intimidating, and that’s the whole point! That said, be realistic with your skillset and your physical health so you don’t bite off more than you can chew. Maybe start with small, local adventures and build up from there.
But what if you find yourself at an existential crossroad? It may be time to take a deeper journey. Some religious pilgrimages have well-trod paths, like the Hajj to Mecca, or the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), or the Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan, all of which can take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months to complete on foot. Secular pilgrimages, which have no set trail, can be short or long depending on your intention. Some meander down memory lane, revisiting significant or symbolic places. Others traverse ancestral homelands. Others travel from festival to festival to reconnect with humanity. Others take a walkabout into the wild, and others head beyond the horizon to places unknown.
Yet to integrate this journey into who you are, it can help to give yourself a temporal container, if nothing else. After all, there’s a difference between setting out on a pilgrimage and just running away forever. Give yourself a month, or three months, or six months, or even a year! But make that deal with yourself, because the return journey provides much-needed clarity as well. A one-way trip isn’t a pilgrimage; that’s just getting out of Dodge. It’s only when we return that we realize how much we’ve grown by contrast to when we started.
Alex Stitt, LMHC
Writer & Contributing ExpertAlex Stitt is a nonbinary author, queer theorist, and licensed mental health counselor living in Hawaii. As a proud Queer Counselor, they work to educate professionals in the mental health field interested in working with LGBTQ+ populations. Their textbook, ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide, demonstrates how to apply Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to gender self-actualization.