Clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Bates joins Brendan O'Connor to share his tips for really switching off on a summer holiday. Listen back to an extract above.
Holidays don’t have to be designed around your Instagram; they just need to be a break in routine where you spend time with people you love. Add to that spending time in nature and a spot of exercise and you have a winning formula.
Comparisons with "perfect" online vacations won’t get you anywhere, says psychologist Dr Tony Bates. Tony has looked at research on the psychology of happiness and he shares his thoughts with Brendan O’Connor.
Here are some of Tony’s top tips on turning your holiday into a truly restorative experience:
1. Take a break. It might sound obvious, but everyone needs to switch off. Post-Covid, we are experiencing a kind of collective burnout and Tony says breaks are essential: "If we have that one moment away, it can transform everything. It can make all that other stuff fade to the edges of our consciousness."
2. Spend time with people you’re comfortable with. Tony says that research into human happiness keeps coming back to this one thing: "Number one is being with people you feel accepted by and feel safe with and feel connected with. Connection is resilience. It is health."
3. Don’t force the fun. Tony advises people not to worry about holidays being "fun," and chasing this feeling will wear you out. Instead, he says the benefit of a holiday lies in getting away from your normal life: "The important thing is, fun is not the issue on holidays – it’s a break."
4. A change really is as good as a rest. Tony describes a holiday as a break where new things happen; new experiences that make us stronger: "When you are there, something new can happen: new connections, new memories. And they are life-giving. They actually fortify us."
5. Take your time. You can’t flick off the work switch and expect holiday mode to kick in straight away: it takes time, Tony says. Even if you don’t get past the first page of a book because you’ve nodded off; that’s ok. The holiday energy boost will happen; just give it time.
6. Have a chat before you go about what everyone expects from the holiday. If you are travelling with a family or friend group, it’s good to know beforehand who wants constant activity and who wants to chill out and take things more slowly.
7. If you’re travelling with children, check in with them every night about what the highlight of their day was – the answers may surprise you. Tony says that children love doing the simple things like collecting stones at the beach, year after year.
8. Full-time carers really need breaks, even if they are reluctant to take them. Tony says many carers need help and encouragement, in order to go away: "I think for people who are around those people, we really need to do all we can to facilitate that."
9. It’s never too late to get something from a bad holiday. Entertaining people with your travel horror stories is a kind of hidden benefit, Tony says: "You may not have had a lot of fun, but you have a great story!"
Finally, Tony says the happiness research points towards three essential ingredients of a good holiday: being with people you love, spending time outdoors enjoying nature, and doing some kind of movement or exercise.
You can listen back to the full interview with Tony Bates above.
