4 Health Benefits of Having a Bolthole: Do More Holidays or a Holiday Home Equal Less Stress?

Away Resorts discuss the physical and mental benefits of holiday home ownership

It’s well documented that holidays are hugely beneficial for mental and physical health, not to mention the social positives for an individual. But could owning a holiday home actually be better?

Hotels have been winning in terms of service, kudos and popularity for years, but with popularity comes complacency and this has seen a decrease in business as consumers feel let down by expensive tariffs and poor service. In direct response to this the increase in holiday rentals has exploded, with a 43% increase in Holiday home enquiries in the last year alone (Away Resorts), but what happens when you find the place you love to visit time and again? Do you repeatedly stay in other people’s homes or do you say “Its time” and look for a bolt hole of your own?

We’ve put together a few great reasons why owning a holiday home beats renting.

1.      Get your creative juices flowing

It’s a well-known fact that many novelists and artists would hole up in a holiday home to let their creativity to roam free, Mark Twain, Ian Flemming and Virginnia Wolfe all had either second homes or retreats to escape to.

You can experience clearer cognitive abilities as well as better creativity after disconnecting from work for a sustained period of time. Researchers note that people often return from a holiday with renewed vigour, refreshed, and tend to attack projects with gusto rather than opting for easy solutions. Being able to take a break from deadlines, high-pressure environments and stress can help alter your mind set from irritable, depressed or anxiety-ridden, to ones that are calmer and more relaxed. Not only does this benefit you the employee but it also benefits your company’s bottom line, it’s been discovered that stressed employees could end up being out of work for longer periods of time due to physical and mental health problems caused by too much time on the job.

2.      Get your body right

Everyone needs to physically take a break from the day-to-day exertions of life; ignoring your body’s natural cycles can result in dismissing the body’s need to reboot. Small breaks are good, but longer holidays allow you to fully rest, which improves mental alertness. It’s been proven that consistent, chronic stress can compromise bodily function, causing the genetic material in cells can become disrupted.

Hotel rooms don’t have kitchens, which means you have to buy your meals out in restaurant or fast food places. This can be expensive, and difficult to choose or find healthy options. However, holiday homes usually have fitted kitchens that will allow you to prepare your own meals, saving money and making keeping your meals healthy easy. It also allows family time throughout meals which is an excellent thing on holiday. The main benefit of having your own home, rather than say, a rental villa, is that you know you can stock your kitchen with exactly the items you need. No more rummaging for a corkscrew, using dull knives or finding that you’re left with two plates ad a cracked mug for your family of four.

3.      Family First

Spending time with a loved one or family members during holidays allows you to bond with them in deeper ways, more thoroughly than the usual “how was your day?” discussions. Time spent together on a holiday builds personal bonds and increases family connectedness.

Making sure that that family closeness stays friendly and not fraught can often hinge on how much physical room you all have, having more than two of you in one room can end up being quite stressful with the lack of privacy and space to relax and spread out, a holiday home negates this issue with separate rooms and often private outdoor space for children to play in.

4.      Get your money

Whilst the initial outlay for a second home or holiday home can seem astronomic, if you even this up over several years, multiple trips and holidays the cost per visit suddenly drops enormously. You could take many small trips each year rather than save for the traditional ‘Big Holiday’, so why wait all year to go away when you could get away every weekend?

Not only that, but traditional holidays can often end up breaking the bank by requiring the constant paying out for entertainment whilst you’re away, that’s not needed in a holiday home, you can have all the comforts of home such as Netflix, games consoles, board games, garden toys and none of the cost involved.

And a holiday home doesn’t have to cost the earth. There are affordable options available at managed sites all over the country. Luxury holiday park operators like Away Resorts offer caravans for sale on the Isle of Wight. At a holiday park, some holiday homes start from as low as £19,995.

About Lisa Baker, Editor, Wellbeing News 4212 Articles
Editor Lisa Baker is passionate about the benefits of a holistic approach to healing. Lisa is a qualified Vibrational Therapist and has qualifications in Auricular Therapy, Massage, Kinesiology, Crystal Healing, Seichem and is a Reiki Master.