Front Porch: Traveling not just fun, but good for mental health, too

I have not climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, had a zip line adventure in New Zealand or gone to Mardi Gras – but I did visit a friend in California recently, and I feel as invigorated and peppy as if I had done any of the more exciting things that travel brochures advertise.

I have long held – and spouted forth about – that getting out of Dodge is good for us. I’d often joke that even if it’s an overnight stay at a motel in Rosalia (no offense intended to Rosalia, which doesn’t have any motels that I’m aware of), it’s good to go someplace, anyplace, for a change of scenery. It needn’t be expensive or extensive or far away … just somewhere that’s not here, no matter where your own “here” is.

And, sure, big trips with big adventures are fun. I’ve done some of those – London, Czech Republic, travel through Spain, attending the Olympics – but I’ve found that in their own way, the little getaways to places that won’t make it onto must-see lists are just as good. Often it’s because of who lives there – family or old friends.

Some of my best trips have been to see my elderly (now deceased) friend near Sebring, Florida, where we talked and drove around to see the sights, ate out and where I learned to play the card game Oh Hell. Or my one-week summer trip this year to Pinole, California, where my good friend Sandy lives. We hung out, ate out some and had two days of planned activity.

One day was a walk in the Muir Woods. She, two of her friends and I – four old ladies with walking sticks and sensible shoes – strolled slowly, sat on benches often, and enjoyed the beauty of nature with deep appreciation. The other day involved taking the Vallejo Ferry into San Francisco, where we had a humorous adventure with Uber and a great visit to the de Young Museum.

But mostly it was the warmth of connecting with a friend and catching up on our lives, losses, newly gained wisdoms and shared history.

I think we all know that travel, seeing new places and just getting out of our routines, is good for us, but I’ve been enlightened since returning home to read about all the science behind these conclusions. Even some business publications I perused addressed the 52% of American workers who leave vacation time unused, challenging them that research has shown that getting away from work helps develop leaders, brings you back refreshed and can strengthen the business.

As a more-or-less retired person, I was more focused on the overall mental health benefits of travel or just getting away from home that psychiatrists and other researchers have outlined. When you travel, you tend to engage in activities you don’t do at home, have a break from daily stresses and are “stretched” by sometimes getting out of your normal comfort zone (but not in a bad way). You increase your interaction with people, generally up your physical activity and challenge your creative thinking and problem-solving skills (working out flight delays or cancellations, for example). And are enriched by the beauty that is out there.

These aspects of travel, a psychiatrist wrote in a U.S. News and World Report article last year, are absolutely a boost to our mental health. And for those of us older folks who are endeavoring with everything we’ve got to hold on to what remains of our gray matter, how good to know that travel helps our cognition and helps with depression. A rather big study a few years back reported that travel, especially for retirees, helps with dementia.

Sign me up!

I’ve got one more little trip planned this year. At the end of the month I’ll have a long weekend at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where, as we say in our family, I’ll “theater my brains out.”

But it doesn’t have to be a big-deal trip in order to benefit our brains and dispositions and outlooks either. Sure, visiting other countries and cultures is great, but there’s a lot to see and do in our own neck of the woods.

Why not actually drive to Rosalia and poke around? Catch a meal there … or maybe you’ll even come across a motel there or have a good conversation with a resident who can tell you where there used to be one. If nothing else, maybe you’ll have an entertaining story to tell your friends when you get back.

Or, better yet, take them with you. Better mental health for all!

Voices correspondent Stefanie Pettit can be reached by email at upwindsailor@comcast.net.