Traveling would make you age more slowly

Is your other half fed up with your insatiable desire for vacation plans? As soon as you land, you can’t help but book the next getaway right away… However, you could assure him that science is on your side. Your travels would indeed be beneficial to your health, because they would slow down the signs of premature aging. This is the surprising conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at Edith Cowan University, near Perth (Australia). The reason is twofold. Travel has a positive impact on mental health but also physical effort; two parameters that surprisingly link tourism and health.

Going on an excursion to meet local communities, meeting other travelers who are just as curious to live experiences off the beaten track… Unless you stay all day by the pool, the trip is often punctuated by a whole bunch of vibrant moments that generate emotions, wonder, encounters. So many moments that stimulate our brain and maintain good mental health.Tourism is not just about leisure and relaxation. It can also contribute to people’s physical and mental health.” explains in a press release Fangli Hu, who participated in this Australian study.

It is true that traveling encourages physical activity, between swimming, walking, cycling… Some people take advantage of it to try new practices such as yoga or stand up paddle. According to this research, being exposed to new environments and practicing various activities has an impact on stress, but can also influence “the body’s self-organization capabilities” and “trigger an adaptive response from the immune system“. “In simple terms, the self-defense system becomes more resilient. Hormones that promote tissue repair and regeneration can be released and promote the functioning of the self-healing system.“, specifies the scientist. And we know the positive effects of physical activity on the body, whether it is the improvement of blood circulation, the maintenance of muscles and joints.

Some will contradict these revelations by claiming that travel is also a risky situation for contracting diseases, especially when visiting countries plagued by malaria or yellow fever. And then, the Covid-19 pandemic will also serve as an example to them, as will food poisoning, etc. But viruses and bacteria are not necessarily the first dangers that could contradict these conclusions. For a trip to be beneficial in slowing down aging, it must be successful, in this case, that we remember it as a positive experience… So this trip during which you were left stranded on the side of the road in a country that was completely unknown to you may not have had any impact, quite the contrary.Negative experiences could contribute to increased entropy and compromise health“, the study concludes.

And we will remember that traveling does not necessarily mean taking a plane. In the context of global warming that we know, we can completely escape by train, without going very far from home, and feel disoriented to live an experience that will have interesting effects on slowing down aging.