Like many people, I spend much of my time at home fantasising about my next holiday. During the trip itself, most of my stresses seem to melt away, and聽I return feeling聽optimistic and energised.

Each time, I am determined to integrate those feelings into my day-to-day life, but I am almost invariably disappointed. Within a couple of weeks 鈥� sometimes less, depending on how much time I have to spend on the London Underground 鈥� I become the same irritable and frustrated person that I always was. And so, I start dreaming about my next escape.

As I planned a recent trip to Madrid, I wondered whether聽I was foolish to hope that my聽travels聽would offer anything more than temporary relief.

Delving into the psychological literature, though, I was relieved to see that the answer is a resounding no. Growing evidence explains the specific ways that our holidays can increase our wellbeing and, crucially, the types of activities that will offer the greatest restoration, based on the ancient Greek principle of eudaimonia: 鈥渉uman flourishing鈥�.

鈥淚nstead of thinking only about where you are going to travel, you can think about what psychological experience you want the vacation to provide, and try to create that experience,鈥� says , a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

A serious consideration of holiday psychology has been a long time coming: until recently, psychologists studying wellbeing had mostly focused on the benefits of relaxation聽and leisure activities more generally. There have been plenty of聽, for instance, while the research on vacations was patchy. As a result, they failed to capture the distinct opportunities for a mental reset that holidays can afford away from the daily grind. 鈥淔rom a psychological perspective, that separation is quite important,鈥� says Yan.

颁辞苍蝉颈诲别谤听, published last year.聽Analysing the results of聽32 different studies,聽 at the University of Georgia has聽shown聽that the average mood boost聽begins before we have even left home, as the anticipation of聽a聽trip builds. Those good聽feelings聽remain聽highly elevated for聽at聽least 21 days聽after we have returned聽home聽and聽may not return to聽the聽baseline for聽a further聽three weeks.

If you, like me, struggle to feel those longer-lasting benefits, it may be because you have been focusing on the 鈥渨rong鈥� kind of happiness. Behavioural scientist at the University of St Andrews Business School in the UK argues that we should distinguish between hedonic wellbeing, which concerns enjoyment and pleasure, and eudaimonic wellbeing, which concerns 鈥減ersonal growth, sense of purpose and meaning鈥�.

鈥淥n holiday, hedonic wellbeing might come from lounging on a beach, enjoying nice food or staying in a lovely hotel,鈥� he says. 鈥淓udaimonic wellbeing might come from the sense of achievement in completing a challenging hike, learning about a new culture or forming connections with fellow travellers.鈥�

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, McLean and his colleague at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia found that the boost in hedonic wellbeing faded pretty quickly, whereas the eudaimonic feelings lingered for at least eight weeks. For this reason, he recommends planning holidays that combine both elements 鈥� pure relaxation alongside the kinds of activities that feel more purposeful.

Yan agrees. 鈥淭ravel can also expose people to novelty, different cultures, new activities聽and different versions of themselves,鈥� she says聽鈥� and it is here that the biggest benefits lie. 鈥淭hese experiences may help people not only feel rested, but also feel more alive, connected聽and reflective.鈥�

So, what can we do to achieve it? Based on the available research on both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing,聽聽to think about (see聽below).

You don鈥檛 have to include every single element, but you may benefit from reflecting on the list and deciding which are most significant to you. 鈥淔or example, if relatedness is very important, you might want to prioritise meaningful time with family, friends or a partner, rather than trying to do too many activities,鈥� says Yan. To maximise autonomy, 鈥渋t helps to build in freedom and flexibility鈥�, she says. 鈥淎 vacation that is too tightly scheduled can become another source of pressure.鈥�

Mastery, meanwhile, might involve attending an art class or learning to scuba dive, and the need for novelty might encourage you to try to experience a whole new culture, rather than returning to a familiar destination.

That may take more serious attention than you currently pay to your travel plans. 鈥淒o not treat vacations only as time off. Think about what kind of psychological needs the vacation can satisfy,鈥� says Yan. The hard work may pay off immediately. 鈥淥ur research showed that merely anticipating an upcoming vacation can boost wellbeing, so the planning and looking-forward phase has value in itself,鈥� says McLean. 鈥淚t鈥檚 better to book early!鈥�

If you are worried about protecting your purse strings, rest assured that you can glean many of these benefits from shorter trips 鈥� in fact, the . Nor do the activities have to be exceptionally luxurious: in Grant鈥檚 meta-analysis, physical exercise proved to be one of the best predictors of enhanced wellbeing, and that can be achieved through long walks or visits to outdoor gyms.

You may not even have to leave your home city, provided that you take those psychological needs seriously enough and don鈥檛 simply spend the time catching up on other responsibilities. When planned correctly, taking some time off at home can still be beneficial, says Yan. 鈥淔or example, people can create boundaries around work, avoid routine chores during the holiday period, try new local activities, spend quality time with others, visit nearby nature or create small rituals that make the time feel different from ordinary life.鈥�

Whether you are travelling abroad or staying at home, you should try to find ways to immerse yourself in the memories of the experiences after your break has ended. Along these lines, McLean also found that using virtual-reality headsets to return to the location of their holidays significantly prolonged the wellbeing benefits experienced by his study participants.

We can鈥檛 all afford this technology, of course, but he suggests some lo-fi alternatives. 鈥淒eeply engaging with holiday memories 鈥� perhaps through journaling about the experience in vivid detail, creating a rich photo or video montage that you actively revisit, or even planning a return trip to the same destination 鈥� might tap into similar psychological pathways, though this would need further research to be confirmed.鈥�

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鈥淭he underlying factor is about re-engaging psychologically with the vacation experience in a rich, immersive way,鈥� says McLean. You are unlikely to get this from passively scrolling through your photos; it needs your full attention.

Attempting聽to put all this into practice on my trip to Madrid,聽I made a greater effort to chat to locals in Spanish, maximising my sense of autonomy and mastery; attended a聽concert聽by one of my favourite singers, an experience that was imbued with meaning; and visited聽the city鈥檚聽botanical聽gardens,聽which helped me connect to聽nature.

It聽has now聽been聽six weeks since I returned, and the warm glow聽remains. My sunnier mood may be slowly fading,聽but it hasn鈥檛 yet been extinguished. Now,聽I鈥檓聽dreaming of my next trip.

The UK will ban children under 16 from social media by early next year, replicating a policy that came into effect in Australia in 2025. The move is intended to put children鈥檚 well-being ahead of technology companies鈥� profits. But how will scientists study the effects of the measure and determine whether it is actually having a positive impact?

鈥淲e have no evidence either way,鈥� says at Bath Spa University in the UK, who is working with the Australian government to analyse the effects of its own ban and is also advising the UK government. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such new territory.鈥�

Leading the way on research in the UK is the Wellcome Trust, which is already deep into the IRL Trial in Bradford. This has recruited about 4000 kids from 10 schools, aged 12 to 15, who installed an app on their phones to track their social media use. For half of those children, the app also limits access to social apps. The researchers expect to publish their first results in the middle of next year, after the newly announced ban has taken effect. However, at the Wellcome Trust says the findings should still help inform policy.

They will also improve upon existing research that tends to rely on self-reported measures, like asking children or their parents how much time they spend on social media, rather than using more objective metrics. What鈥檚 more, the few interventional studies that do exist . 鈥淚f you鈥檙e talking about big changes here around mental health and those sorts of things, you鈥檙e not going to see changes in two weeks,鈥� says Etchells.

Australia鈥檚 ban came into place in December, which is too recent to gauge its long-term effects. But once national bans like these are in place, it is impossible to do controlled studies, in which two groups of similar people are allocated access or not. What鈥檚 more, the results from larger studies on the wider population before and after the ban will be impossible to unpick from other social impacts.

For now, Sebastian is gearing up to run additional studies that hopefully generate at least some results soon after the ban. The UK government expects to bring legislation to Parliament before Christmas, with the policy coming into force in early 2027.

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The Wellcome Trust has invited 14 research teams to submit plans, some or all of which will be funded, into the effects of social media on young people鈥檚 well-being. These will take varying approaches to capture as much data as possible, with the goal of eventually synthesising the data into a conclusive result.

Some of these studies will follow existing cohorts and regularly interview them about their mental health and well-being over time, before and after the ban. Sebastian says these approaches can be insightful, but rigid. Other studies are proposing momentary assessments, where participants are sent text messages asking them to complete short surveys on the spur of the moment, capturing a different kind of data. Others may look to analyse data that is already being captured for some insight, such as the rate of hospital admissions or school absences.

With time against them, Sebastian hopes that some results could emerge relatively soon after the ban, but they are likely to be nuanced. For instance, a social media ban could have some positive impacts, but also disruptive ones in the short term, as online supportive networks are lost.

The effects of such bans are also likely to change over the years or decades, as today鈥檚 children and younger teenagers approach adulthood having never had access to social media. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that this is a done deal,鈥� says Sebastian. 鈥淧olicies could be continuing to change over the longer term, and it鈥檚 possible that the findings from our study and others will help to shape those policies iteratively.鈥�

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For now, some are wary that the UK government is taking a reactive stance in the complex problem of poor youth mental health, without the appropriate data. at the University of Oxford told the Science Media Centre that a blanket age ban is a 鈥渂lunt tool鈥� and a stronger step than current evidence can support, but adds that the Wellcome research is an opportunity to learn whether these measures will 鈥渉elp, harm or neither鈥�.

One thing that could hinder research 鈥� and undermine government policy 鈥� is the ability of users to skirt the bans. Early reports suggest that facial-recognition technology designed to verify ages online can be , and VPNs make it trivial to聽appear to websites as a user from another country聽where age checks aren鈥檛 mandated.

Surveys in Australia by the Molly Rose Foundation, a suicide-prevention charity, found that 61 per cent of 12-to-15-year-olds who had accounts on restricted platforms before the ban came into force . The organisation said that given the findings, it would be a 鈥渉igh-stakes gamble鈥� for the UK to follow suit at this stage.

Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123 (samaritans.org); US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 (988lifeline.org). Visit bit.ly/SuicideHelplines for services in other countries.

The ketogenic diet, best known as a fat-busting fad, holds promise for treating anorexia nervosa. Following the diet 鈥� which contains high amounts of fat, moderate amounts of protein and very few carbohydrates 鈥� caused nearly 75 per cent of people with the eating disorder to drop below the threshold for diagnosis in a small study. This is thought to be due to the diet restoring malfunctioning energy release in brain cells, which has been linked to anorexia, thereby lowering anxiety and reducing the compulsion to restrict food.

Mimicking starvation by restricting carbohydrates in a condition characterised by extreme dieting, and with of all mental health conditions, sounds risky. But at the University of California, San Diego, argues that when properly supervised, it could remove the compulsive drive to self-starve. 鈥淧eople tell me clinically, it鈥檚 like an addiction, [saying] 鈥業 crave this鈥�,鈥� he says. 鈥淧erhaps if you create that state that they crave while giving them enough food, it can be beneficial.鈥�

Frank and his team asked 22 women with anorexia, whose body mass index (BMI) had risen enough to sit in the healthy to slightly underweight range, to follow a ketogenic diet for 14 weeks, supervised by a dietician, psychiatrist and a peer support counsellor who had experienced anorexia. Their weight, mood and anorexia symptoms were monitored weekly, using questionnaires to track any changes in body image, depression, food-related anxiety and fear of weight gain.

The 18 women who stuck to the diet for the full 14 weeks showed a significant improvement in anorexia symptoms and scores of depression, which commonly occurs alongside anorexia. Thirteen of them (72 per cent) even improved enough to drop below the threshold for clinical diagnosis for both anorexia and depression. 鈥淭he level of recovery was far better than what we see in other anorexia treatments,鈥� says Frank.

The aim of the study was not to see if the keto diet made the participants gain weight, however, they all stayed in a healthy to slightly underweight BMI range, and didn鈥檛 relapse.

Ketogenic diets are named for the way they prompt a metabolic shift that evolved to help us survive times of famine. As plant-eaters, our metabolism runs mostly on carbohydrates, which are broken down into glucose to be burned in the energy-releasing mitochondria in cells.

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When carbs are unavailable, the body adapts to burn fat, releasing it from storage and converting it in the liver to molecules called ketone bodies. These can be burned in the mitochondria in place of glucose.

The diets were invented in the 1920s, not for weight loss, but as a treatment for epilepsy. It was known that fasting for several days could reduce or stop seizures, but as a treatment, it was unsustainable. The ketogenic diet provided a solution: restricting carbs enough to mimic starvation, while providing enough dietary fat so those on it didn鈥檛 lose weight.

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In children with anorexia nervosa or other restrictive eating disorders, changes in the brain鈥檚 outer layer don鈥檛 seem to be due to lack of nutrition alone 鈥� and some mirror those seen in other neurological conditions

Research since suggests that epilepsy and many mental health conditions, including anorexia, are associated with problems related to releasing energy from glucose in the brain, and ketone bodies can relieve these problems by providing an alternative fuel.

at the University of California, Los Angeles, who researches and treats eating disorders, sounds a note of caution for anyone considering trying a keto diet for anorexia. 鈥淚t is important to distinguish between close monitoring from an eating disorder psychiatrist, dietitian and treatment team, and attempting to do this independently.鈥� Until we have more data from large, randomised controlled trials, it is too early to change the way we treat anorexia, he says, which typically involves therapy and nutritional support.

A shipping container holding three mobile flotation tanks is en route to Maui, Hawaii, to tackle a mental health crisis caused by one of the deadliest wildfires in US history. While mostly found in high-end spas, flotation tanks have shown promise as a treatment for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If the roll-out is successful, fleets of the tanks could be sent to disaster zones all over the world.

In August 2023, a series of wildfires erupted on Maui, the worst of which killed 102 people and . In the years since, risks of depression and anxiety have been higher within wildfire burn zones, and there are fears of an unfolding epidemic of PTSD.

鈥淢aui does not have an infrastructure to deal with a mental health crisis聽of this magnitude,鈥� says , a clinical neuropsychologist who set up the non-profit . 鈥淧eople are self-medicating. There鈥檚 a lot of alcohol use; there鈥檚 a surge in suicide and PTSD.鈥�

On 2 May, Feinstein announced at the in Los Angeles that the float units would be available for free sessions for first responders and survivors of the 2023 wildfires, while also being used to collect long-term data on flotation as a mental health treatment.

Flotation therapy, also known as Float-REST (reduced environmental stimulation therapy), involves lying in a shallow pool that contains enough dissolved Epsom salts to support the body without effort. The water in the pool and the air above it are kept at body temperature, and with ear plugs to reduce noise and the lights switched off, the brain is cut off from all external sources of sensory stimulation.

The tanks were invented in the 1950s by neuroscientists to answer the question of whether the brain would shut down without this stimulation. The answer was no 鈥� people remained conscious, but they did report a sense of deep relaxation.

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Feinstein has since spent more than a decade 鈥檚 mental and physical effects. This work has suggested that it significantly reduces anxiety in volunteers without any mental health conditions, and in people with anxiety disorder and other mental health conditions, such as depression and PTSD. It produces an effect that is roughly equivalent to taking benzodiazepines, a type of sedative, says Feinstein.

While the exact mechanisms are still unclear, flotation is thought to work by removing external sensory stimulation and reducing movement, allowing the body and brain to settle into a state of relaxation. Studies have shown that within minutes, and blood pressure falls, while and emotional processing towards a restorative, sleep-like state.

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Feinstein, who has lived in Maui since 2020, has worked with the UK-based company Floataway to design lower-cost modular float pods, which, unlike regular tanks, can be assembled anywhere in a matter of days. The will bring the tanks to the area and is set to start gathering data in the summer. If successful, the aim is to have a fleet of pop-up tanks that can be sent to disaster zones to potentially prevent PTSD.

at University College London, who has studied the bodily basis of PTSD, says that the focus on calming the body is a much-needed change in how we treat the condition. 鈥淎 core feature of PTSD is hyperarousal, which is accompanied by increased reactivity of bodily responses,鈥� she says. 鈥淔lotation is seemingly able to bring about a feeling of internal safety, which an important shift in the understanding and treatment of PTSD.聽 I鈥檓 really excited by this work.鈥�

Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123 (samaritans.org); US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 (988lifeline.org). Visit bit.ly/SuicideHelplines for services in other countries.