Dr Amir Khan

For many, a summer holiday is a window in time to rest and relax - forget about the stresses of day-to-day life and relinquish all responsibilities. In fact, 45% say they travel explicitly for this, more than those who do so to explore new destinations and cultures (35%).Meanwhile, almost six in ten (59%) want to travel more for their mental and physical well-being, further going to show they understand the impact a well-planned and executed break can have on the mind and body.That is likely down to the time spent outdoors while away, with 63% agreeing they feel better when surrounded by nature. At a time when 42% have said their mental health suffered from not travelling during the pandemic, this is especially important.However, 42% often return feeling as if they need another week to rest and recover before returning to work and the normal day-to-day, according to new research from Destination British Columbia.Dr Amir Khan, GP and wellbeing expert, will be available to share his advice, having just returned from British Columbia, Canada, where he soaked in the benefits of the great outdoors and experienced what is known as "The British Columbia Effect".British Columbia and the BC Parks foundation are being hailed as a pioneer in this space, recently attracting attention for its PaRx "nature prescription" programme which sees medical professionals offer free national park passes in all Canadian provinces (except Quebec) to tackle mental and physical health issues.This goes a step further than the NHS's green social prescribing initiative, outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan to link people to nature-based interventions and activities to improve mental and physical health. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.