The stress of school work and maintaining a healthy personal life comes with many challenges. According to a study conducted by Stanford alumni, 75% of high schools report that their students are stressed through a majority of the school year, primarily because not everyone has the drive to persevere through a great deal of stress. Similar to adults, stress is present through work days and high expectations;therefore, there must be a change that helps people’s stress become more manageable. One way to be stress-free is by traveling; it offers a clean slate, the feeling of refreshment and an experience of a lifetime.
Traveling provides a sense of relief from the stress that is present in people’s lives. A heavy workload conquering students’ lives and the overwhelming feeling of needing to complete everything at once can be the potential driving force behind heart attacks and other ailments; primarily, meaning, most people need a break every-so-often. With traveling, for example, people are provided with a sensational journey through new experiences, ultimately leading to less stress. Although it is impossible to fully extract stress from your life, it is important to maintain a schedule that suits your needs.
“About 43% of teens surveyed in 2020 said their stress levels had gone up and 45%said they had a hard time concentrating on schoolwork. Many reported feeling less motivated,” Harvard Summer School Reports stated.
With urgent work and important tasks that need to be done in a timely manner comes even more pressure. Stress, due to timelines and end dates, is not necessarily preventable, but treatable.
However, not everyone is suffering from stress because of school. In fact, 84% of working adults face stressful situations everyday. For adults, traveling is a similar experience; also providing the wellness check that people need. Specifically, scientists and psychologists argue that travelling feeds the brain a “digital detox,” meaning, going on vacation is beneficial to your mental health. For most, traveling offers a boost in creativity and confidence; which is proven by new experiences changing a person’s behavior, typically for the better.Specifically, when traveling outside of the country, the change in seasons prevents the “SAD” from occurring; it is a feeling of depression because of the season. The “clean slate” that people wish to have is derived from the atmosphere providing a fresh look on life. For example, according to YLE, Finland’s primary news anchor, states that many people who live in Finland, where the weather is rainy and cloudy, have reported that the only time they have ever broken through stress or a depressive state was when they travelled to areas where sunlight is more prominent.
“Some people who are more sensitive to the seasonal changes report negative reactions like lack of energy, sleeping disorders, social withdrawal, annoyance, sadness, craving for carbohydrates and weight gain. Studies have found that around 12% of Finns suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD),” YLE said.
New experiences are exciting, especially when traveling abroad. For many people from Finland, the chance to travel to a country with beaches and sunshine is an opportunity worth taking; however, for most people, pursuing opportunities can be scary because it is different from what they are accustomed to.
Most importantly, when people travel to a foreign country, they are exposed to different kinds of life-changing experiences. For one, language barriers are broken when you are exposed to new dialects. With each country, for the most part, the dialects are immensely different. The ability to not only acknowledge the different dialects that exist, but also understand the importance of seeing that people’s lives are different depending on where they live, will ultimately lead to a changed person; a change that provides refreshments. Traveling provides the mind with refreshments, exposes people of all ages to new opportunities, and opens up people’s minds to healthier habits.
