While we agree that travelling is no cure for depression, it definitely is one of the most effective ways to help you in your fight against depression. Survey findings state that India is one of the most depressed countries in the world, with almost 6.5% of its population affected by it. While that is a debate left better to the world of science and psychology, we advise you to travel more, open up your mind to the world and let it breathe.
Here are five ways in which travelling can help you fight depression.
1. You meet new people
Loneliness is directly linked with depression, and the more lonely you are more are the chances that you will stay depressed. Yes, even solitude lovers crave to break out from their bubble every once in a while. When you travel, you jump into an influx wherein you meet new people, right from your cab driver to hotel staff to other travellers and the locals. Each of them has stories to share, distracting your mind and letting it indulge in other people’s experiences. It is a distraction that will put your mind to peace for some good time.
2. Nature therapy
Studies hint at a very clear connection between depression and humans’ proximity to nature. Human brain is devised in a way that it finds infinite calm in dense forests, by a riverside, in the mountains or in a meadow full of flowers. Once you are close to nature, depression will take your leave for as long as you can linger there; so yes, spending more time in nature is perhaps one of the most potent ways to fight depression.
3. Exert more, stay happy
We advise you to break off from your work-home routine and sign up for a vacation that makes you indulge in more physical activity, such as trekking. Physical exertion leads to a release of endorphins that combat depression directly. So yes, do sign up for that hike or those rock-climbing sessions in Peru that you have been thinking of (Hampi, closer home). Plus, those stunning views after a hike are nothing less than calming in their own way.
4. Travel more, sleep well
Insomnia is one of the first effects of depression; needless to mention that it has a very physical and evident connect in the way we conduct ourselves on a daily basis. Travelling puts you off your scheduled time with laptops and phones, making you explore more, put your mind to more interesting and varied work. The drill starts right from the check-in rush at the airport; by nightfall, you are either ready for more explorations or are all heavy-eyed with that much exertion. One way or the other, you would be dead tired to not sleep at the day’s end. No sleeping pills required.
5. The amazing big world
Once on a trip, you are out and far away from your shell. Travelling often makes one realise the sheer grandeur of it all, the different ways of this world, living conditions that you had never known before; it teaches one more about how they are a part of the big, beautiful world. It leads to one being more grateful as well as take a look at the bigger picture. There is nothing as massive as watching a beach sunset, you feel tiny yet a part of a beautiful symphony.
Let us know your thoughts if you find a connection between travelling and depression. We are reading.
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