Behavior Change and Health News
Take An Active Vacation
What’s your idea of the perfect vacation? Perhaps it’s lounging on a beach for days, or curling up with a good book in a secluded cabin. Ever think of trying to combine your relaxing get-away with an opportunity to be active? Often we don’t know how to be active on vacation without taking away the restfulness. Vacations can be a breeding ground for over-eating and inactivity, but there are ways to stay active and still enjoy the time away from home. The key to changing this is to know that active vacations can be rewarding and restful. You can come back energized and ready to tackle life. You can do this in many ways, depending on what best fits your life.
Not everyone can afford, or has the time, to take an adventure vacation to an exotic location. Here are some easy, inexpensive ways to turn even a three-day weekend into a revitalizing combination of rest and activity.
- Check out state or national parks, which typically offer hiking and biking trails that can transform an afternoon into an exciting discovery of nature. Take along a picnic.
- When you’re at the beach, feel the sand between your toes as you walk around to check out surrounding hotels, seashells, and other curious beach crawlers like yourself.
- Take a walking tour of a new city—discover little shops and restaurants you would have otherwise missed in passing.
- Take advantage of hotel pools by swimming laps, doing water exercises or actively playing with your children in the water.
- Bring a Frisbee or soccer ball in the car and stop for an activity break when you pass by a park or rest stop. Chasing after the ball and breathing the fresh air will give your heart and body much-needed refreshment during a road trip.
- Buy a kite and run along the beach or through an open field with your kite climbing in the sky.
- Rent a paddleboat or canoe to make memories on the water while you work your legs.
- Get out the binoculars to go bird watching. Walk around and enjoy the beauty of nature.
- Stop at your favorite amusement park. Your fun day will be full of walking!
If you are looking for something further from home or a bit more structured, many travel agencies and companies specialize in active vacations. Type “active vacation” into your search engine and you’ll get hundreds of options — from biking in Vermont to skiing in Switzerland. Many of these trips offer a combination of activity and luxurious accommodations that offer rejuvenation. A range of duration, prices and destinations are available. Here are a few Web sites to help you get started: www.backroads.com, www.theworldoutdoors.com, and www.countrywalkers.com. These are established companies that offer their expertise to give you a great vacation. Their Web sites are user-friendly, and give you a good feel for their trips.
There are endless creative ways to turn even a single day off into an opportunity to be active. So go try something new! You might be surprised at how great your mind and body will feel when you get back.
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