The role that travel plays in overall health and wellbeing is an ongoing discussion. While it is hard to argue that it is unhealthy to take a vacation, increase of food and alcohol consumption aside, it is not exactly easy to pinpoint the health benefits directly associated with travel. That said, there are a number of studies and surveys that have shown many positive, personal effects of travel.

In America, productivity is a direct translation for working long hours, taking work home and rarely taking time off. In theory, the more time that is put into working will increase the outcome, but in reality, human beings have needs beyond a paycheck padded by working overtime. Surveys have shown that  when compared with many countries in Europe that offer employees more vacation time, the European countries trumped the US in productivity growth in the majority of years between 1981 and 2000. This fact is not lost on the 24% of Americans who would trade an increase in pay for an increase in vacation time and that comes as no surprise considering that Americans receive an average of less than 10 days of vacation after one year of work and just over 10 days after three years.

The benefits of travel go well beyond that of productivity in the workplace. The ability to step away from the sometimes monotonous and stressful day-to-day allows you to relax, sleep better and reevaluate and appreciate your life. Even a brief vacation can cause a noticeable drop in stress levels and increase in positivity about life. There are also documented health benefits including a decrease in risk of heart attack and increased ability to cope with stress. If this is not enough to help you realize the health and healing benefits of travel, there are also a number of specifically health related tourist destinations that may help you reevaluate.

The rising cost of health care in the United States and the discrepancy in cost and quality between public and private health care in a number of other developed nations has caused many to look elsewhere for medical treatment. This push has led to a dramatic rise in medical tourism. For years, Americans have looked abroad for cosmetic and plastic surgery as a less expensive option, but the professionalism and low cost of hospitals around the globe have begun to attract medical tourists who don’t have insurance or have limited coverage for a range of procedures from hip and knee replacements to heart surgery to in vitro fertilization.

If the thought of going under the knife is too much for you to handle, consider a more miraculous approach to healing. The small commune of Lourdes in the southwest of France has long been a destination of the tired and weak. Each year from March to October, thousands of Catholics make the pilgrimage to Lourdes to drink from or bathe in the water of the Sanctuary of Our Lady Lourdes. The Catholic church has officially recognized 67 miraculous healings of otherwise incurable illnesses just from the power of the water. This number does not include the many thousands over the years who have seen an improvement in conditions after their visit.

If the “holy water” of Lourdes does not do it for you, try the salty water of the Red Sea instead. The Red Sea and its surrounding black sands are said to have healing properties for those that suffer from psoriasis and arthritis. The surrounding geography of the Red Sea protects it from invasive elements and allows for pure and clean exposure. The water itself is also protected by extensive coral reefs that keeps the salt content significantly higher. The combination of bathing, laying in the sun and being partially buried in the hot sand has shown results decreasing the effects of psoriasis and arthritis.

There is no guarantee that getting a procedure in a foreign country is going to be easier or less expensive than here in the US. There is also no guarantee that the holy water of Lourdes will bring on a miraculous cure for what ails you. There is, however, no arguing that a little vacation does a body good. If nothing ails you, consider yourself lucky, but also consider an upcoming vacation as an ounce of preventative medicine.