First of all we had suspected it, but it’s a pleasure to be strengthened in one’s certainty: traveling would allow one to be young at heart and in the spirit, as well as healthier, reports the Los Angeles Times. We suspected it, but it’s always nice to be confirmed in one’s certainties: traveling would allow you to stay young at heart and mind, as well as healthier, reports the Los Angeles Times. At least that’s what a recent “meta-analysis” that cross-referenced several existing studies reveals, and which establishes causal links between travel and a lower risk of heart disease and depressive disorders.

Travelling would even help to maintain good mental health in general – that too, we could have guessed. According to the report of this analysis, produced by The Global Commission on Aging and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association, women who take a vacation every six years or less are more likely to have a heart attack or coronary heart disease than those who take a vacation twice a year.

The advantage for men

Men who do not take an annual vacation are 30% more likely to die of a heart attack. According to a neuropsychologist quoted by the Chicago Tribune, traveling could even reduce the risk of contracting Alzheimer’s disease. When you expose your brain to a novel, new or complex environment, its neurons grow and increase its output, the expert says in essence.

Here is why traveling is good for health :

 Even the stress inherent in some travel can be beneficial, forcing the brain to stay alert, he adds. The benefits of travel are also said to be immediate for those who allow themselves to travel: after one or two days, 89 percent of travelers in one study reported a significant decrease in their stress levels – negative stress, that is.

Finally it’s so usefully for a student

The study also found that percent of Americans dream of traveling in retirement, and that the most meaningful trips they take with family and friends are those that affect their well-being. Read more in the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, and on the Global Commission for Aging website.

In the above-mentioned report and articles, the terms trip and vacation are used alternately and without nuance, which suggests that in this case we are talking about a vacation taken away from home, during a trip.