New Year's Resolutions - Is Travel Good for Your Health?

It’s that time of year again, the time to welcome in the New Year and time to make New Year’s resolutions.  The majority of people make resolutions to quit a bad habit or start a good one – all with the intention of improving our lives.  How many of these promises to ourselves will be kept?

According to a study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol, only 22% of New Year’s resolutions will be kept.  With a 78% failure rate, why do we continue this tradition? 

If you believe in resilience, hope, and the desire for continuous improvement, then perhaps it’s not a tradition to drop.  Just maybe we need to be a little more proactive in our quest for self-improvement.  What can we do to make sure our resolutions are successful?

One size fits all never works in life, and Wiseman found this to be true when studying the differences between what makes men and women successful in keeping their resolutions.  His findings include the following:

• Men achieve their goals 22% more often when they set measurable goals.
• Women achieve their goals 10% more often when they made them public and got support from others.
• One resolution at a time seems to work best for everyone.
• People who planned a series of smaller goals had a higher than average success rate.

So don’t overload yourself.  Choose one major resolution instead of many small ones.  Break the steps into measurable goals, and share your progress with others.

If you’re looking to improve the overall quality of your life, reduce stress, improve health or gain productivity, you just might want to include travel as a resolution.  The American Travel Behavior Survey by Harris Interactive found that 81% of travelers feel energized and productive after a leisure trip.

Dr. Matthew Edlund, director of the Center for Circadian Medicine and author of The Power of Rest emphasizes the benefits of travel,

“Travel stimulates the brain and promotes the growth of new synapses,
heightens creativity and may even resist Alzheimer’s disease.”  …Your
brain, like the rest of the body, rebuilds itself constantly, but it needs to
be given the regular opportunity to do so.  Taking frequent leisure trips at
regular intervals continually rests and rejuvenates you, increasing your
productivity and sense of satisfaction."

As you evaluate 2011 and make plans for a happy and healthy 2012, I wish you the best of luck in keeping your resolutions.  Happy New Year!