1. YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
You’re probably confused why this is my numero uno reason to travel. Well, I have a good reason, AND I think you might find that it could be a reason for you to travel too.
Over 9,000 feet in the Andes above Cuenca, Ecuador
A part of my autoimmune health issues manifest in my body’s inability to handle heat and sun. It just drives me NUTS. When I step into the sun on a warm day (AKA a day over 80 degrees Fahrenheit), I feel like someone has just lit my head on fire. YES that is literally how I feel and living in the Idaho desert is not ideal. Sucks, right?! Well I found a solution that gives me a break from feeling like this. I travel.
This gives me the ability to choose my location with temperatures that allow me to get some relief and the vitamin D my body craves in temperatures I can manage.
For this reason I spent an entire summer in the Ecuadorian and Colombian Andes sitting over 7,000ft where it’s not hot and its not sunny everyday. I spent one summer month in Victoria, B.C. and another in Stockholm, Sweden. These places are pretty temperate yet still warm enough to enjoy a refreshing dip in the waters mingled in the city.
You get the point. Find a location that allows you to have a break from an environment that might trigger your chronic health issues. Your body deserves it!
2. Travel CAN REDUCE STRESS
Sitting in a hammock overlooking the Amazon jungle near Puyo, Ecuador
Life demands a lot from you! There’s a reason life feels overwhelming so much of the time, and health struggles on top of everything else can cause our body to be in overdrive (in our sympathetic nervous system state) and not relax (go into the parasympathetic nervous system state). This decreases our body’s ability to digest well and adds to our body’s toxic load, which is obviously NOT GOOD for those of us with autoimmune health issues.
When you get out of your normal demands, routines, and busyness, it can lower stress by removing some of the demands on our plate. Taking time away from the chores - not doing laundry, cleaning up the house, working, running from event to event, doctor's appointments, traffic, etc. - is necessary. Life shouldn’t be only about these things. It’s good to try new things, stay in bed longer, try a new food, lay on the beach reading a good book, walk around a new city and get adequate sleep.
I’ve found that travel is actually when I experience the best health because home is where the stress is for me, and a break can actually be the most healing thing I can do.
3. Travel BREATHES FRESH LIFE INTO YOU
Traveling with chronic health issues, known and unknown, can be hard and draining. But just living with this, in general, is a challenge. Working at my old job in social services with vulnerable populations was life-changing but also made my health much worse. The job was demanding of me physically, mentally, and socially. I had to ALWAYS be on. My cortisol was always high, I couldn't sleep at night. There was no breaks, no lunch, few resources, and practically no budget or support. It wore on me!
Running through Seattle, Washington
Traveling was my break, my downtime, and gave me the needed rest to keep going. It changed my attitude and stress levels because I got sleep, I ate 3 healthy meals per day, and had less headaches. I just felt better. My mental health increased as I took time to slow down. Depressing thoughts and anxiety were almost non-existent. On a social level, I was able to interact with so many interesting and open-minded people, and unlike my work in social services, their lives were not dependent on me!
For me, cortisol (the lovely stress hormone) decreases when I travel. While this may not be true for everyone, a well planned and prepared trip just might be the medicine you need to be motivated to keep pushing through the hard times. Pleasure heals our nervous system. Pleasure heals us from the everyday stresses of living in this modern, fast-paced, ever-more demanding, crazy Western world and the long-term effects of trauma on the body that comes from chronic illness and stress.
When we get to be mindful and present in our body we can release pressure and heal! So next time you are back on the stress-inducing quest to find a new doctor or a new remedy to your symptoms, consider pulling out a map, picking a destination, AND GOING!
It just might be the medicine you were looking for.