5 of the many wellbeing benefits of taking a holiday
- Dr Zoe Cross
- Aug 5, 2025
- 3 min read
Taking a holiday or break from our usual surroundings has long been known to have a multitude of benefits, with recent research showing that the holiday highs can stay with us for more than 3 weeks after we get home (British Psychological Society, March 2025). But apart from the usual holiday expectations, what do we gain from taking time out?
Downtime
Top of the list has to be rest and relaxation. However, anyone with small children, a large group of noisy friends, difficult parents, or a personal best at skiing, cycling or rock climbing to beat, knows that it’s not always that easy! Whatever you’re planning, it’s important to factor in some free time to unwind, detach from your usual schedule and catch up on sleep, reading, wine appreciation and easy conversations.
Perspective
The days and weeks roll into each other with a scary ease. Breaking up the constant call of the schedule, timetable and obligations is immensely freeing and has all kinds of positive effects on your wellbeing. Holidays are big, bold punctuation marks on our calendars, giving us something to look forward to, and afterwards, to look back on. Holidays help us to pause and consider things from a distance, with a slightly clearer head. When we’re in the thick of it every day – appointment to appointment, drop off to pick up, deadline to deadline – we can feel a little bit numb or ambivalent about our lives, even if it’s all generally wonderful. Going away and returning home can help us to appreciate it all a little bit more – including its predictability!
Reflection
When you are relaxing in the sunshine and you’re fairly sure you’ve switched off, detached from work and have temporarily blocked out any demands on your time, you might be mistaken for thinking you’re not… thinking. Truth is, if you’re doing it right, a state of relaxation will let thoughts and ideas drift through your mind. Information will come and go. Some of it will be useful, some of it will be nonsense. It just doesn’t matter, it’s a rare chance for your mind to play with thoughts without an agenda or time limit. And if you have something specific you need to figure out, this kind of unstructured time is ideal.
Experiences
If you’re having a break at home, do a few things you haven’t done before. I read recently that we should all try to script the perfect day (within reason and means) and actively go and do it. It doesn’t have to cost very much if that’s a barrier. Visiting your friend in a different town, having a walk with a picnic, having a day at the seaside, lying in your bed with a good book – whatever takes your fancy. Having new experiences are a mini holiday in their own right. And if you’re in a far-flung part of the world you’ll be trying different food, music and culture. Drink it in! Being somewhere new is also a great creativity booster - seeing how other people live and taking something away from it (not literally!).
Screen-free
Finally, one of the very best parts of a holiday is the ability to lose your phone for a while. Check it in the morning and shut it away in a drawer. Check in again at lunchtime if you must. Let people know this is the holiday drill if it makes you feel more able to do it. It’s incredibly empowering to not answer to your phone, not to report in every few minutes, not to constantly check across all the platforms and apps you have. According to Uswitch, UK adults spend an average of 3 hours and 21 minutes on their phones every day, with males averaging 4 hours and females averaging 3 hours. Turn it off, even if it’s just while you’re away. It’ll also show you how often you reach for it with absolutely no reason – I speak from experience!
Have a holiday, home or away, and shake up your routine – your mental health will thank you for it. Oh and did I mention fun? Yes, go and have fun, the most overlooked aspect of our lives!
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