By Carol Southall
30 April 2025
“Here Comes Summer”, a song immortalised by Jerry Keller in 1959, and one that for me encapsulates the feelgood elements of one of my favourite seasons. The others being spring, autumn and winter, in the UK and in that order!
In my early days as a Tour Guide, I had this song, amongst others of questionable taste (at least according to my teenage daughter, who of course is the absolute authority on what defines good taste in music), on a pre-recorded cassette tape that I always played to my coach passengers as we made our way across Europe to holiday destinations far and wide. It was key to the holiday ‘feel-good’ factor that we always tried to instil into our clients, not least because the mindset was important for the assurance of customer satisfaction, at least until resort arrival…but that’s a topic for a future story.
In this blog I consider the meaning of ‘feelgood factor’ in the context of getting ready for summer, wellbeing and tourism. After all we all know we’re ready for it, but are we sure that we know what ‘it’ really is, and, equally importantly, where to find ‘it’?
A search for the definition of ‘feelgood factor’ elicits words such as happy, positive, wellbeing, endorphins and serotonin. Endorphins and serotonin are two of the four hormones nicknamed “feelgood” hormones because of the happy feelings they produce. The others are dopamine and oxytocin. Essentially endorphins and serotonin are chemicals in your body that make you happy, with serotonin helping to stabilise your mood and well-being, and endorphins focusing on stress relief. But how do we naturally boost our ‘happy hormones’ without resorting to supplements?
In my 2020 article ‘Why going camping could be the answer to your lockdown holiday woes’, written for The Conversation, I discuss the surge in people taking outdoor breaks post-lockdown, and I consider the health benefits of spending time in green space, meaning that we take in more oxygen, which in turn leads to release of the feelgood hormone serotonin. That was almost 5 years ago, and it strikes me how quickly we forget how easy it is to take advantage of our own backyard, both literally and metaphorically, and find that ‘feelgood’ factor in green and blue space. At that time forced confinement reiterated the importance of being out and about in nature, and the evidence suggested that green space positively impacts on people’s stress levels, resulting in better communication and more sensible decision-making.
The idea that access to green space affects our mental health and wellbeing is not new. Indeed, the desire to engage with nature and outdoor activity has been at the forefront of the wellbeing agenda in Europe for some time. Extended families, often brought together by necessity (economy and childcare), have, in more recent years, incorporated outdoor activity in green space into their holiday plans, as a way of improving wellbeing and mental health. Families are also recognising, in their more collectivist approach to holidays, that active pursuits in the outdoor space enable family cohesion and enjoyment in a way that benefits all involved, through the reduction of stress levels and the resulting improvements in communication.
Also important in this context is blue space. Time spent near lakes, rivers and/or coastal areas boosts our emotional wellbeing and some experts believe that blue spaces are even more beneficial to wellbeing than green spaces in reducing stress and anxiety. If we then introduce physical activity, in both green and blue space, for example walking, climbing, swimming, sailing, as well as the possibility of socialisation, we have the ideal remedy for improved wellbeing. In the UK, with a multitude of outdoor ‘playgrounds’ within easy reach of much of the population, particularly in its National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and the government guideline that greenspace should be available within 300 m of homes, finding the space should be the easy part. Using it throughout the year is perhaps something we need to be encouraged to do more often.
Spending time in a psychologically restorative environment can generate the ‘feelgood factor’ we need throughout the seasons, but perhaps as summer approaches we can find our green and blue space and remind ourselves how easy it is to both find and keep ‘it’, all year round, and not just when summer comes.
Further Reading
World Health Organisation (2021) Green and Blue Spaces for Mental Health: New Evidence and Perspectives for Action [https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/342931/9789289055666-eng.pdf]