Geode at the Cite des Sciences et Industrie, Paris/ Photo by PHeymont
Those that spent time abroad know that travel makes good changes to our thinking, but it’s nice to see studies backing that up. On an article published on Monday, The Guardian Newspaper did a great job compiling the different studies showing that travel can positively influence your brain. They found studies that show traveling abroad makes us more creative, outgoing and smarter.
Makes us more creative:
A study by Professor Adam Galinsky of Columbia Business Schools shows those who have lived abroad are more creative. He states “Someone who lives abroad and doesn’t engage with the local culture will likely get less of a creative boost than someone who travels abroad and really engages in the local environment.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/hea…brain-travel/388135/
Makes us more outgoing:
Dr Julia Zimmermann and Dr Franz Neyer compared the personality development of a large sample of German university students who had studied abroad vs a non traveling group. They found those that lived abroad were generally higher in extraversion than those who chose not to travel and those who traveled showed a openness to new experiences, agreeableness and emotional stability when they returned home.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23773042
Makes us smarter:
According to a study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association, the Global Coalition on Aging and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies travel keeps our mind sharp. The researchers said that when our brains are exposed to an environment that’s novel and complex or new and difficult. as with travel, it reacts to those conditions causing it to sprout dendrites that grow the brain’s capacity.
http://articles.chicagotribune…in-20-percent-health
The Guardian article:
http://www.theguardian.com/edu…n-it-alter-the-brain
Not only is travel good for the mind, it good for health as well. The report commissioned by the US Travel Association also quotes previous studies that show women who travel twice a year have significantly reduced chance of heart attacks or coronary death and men who didn’t take a vacation had a 20 percent higher risk of of death.