Part one: Stress relief

Let’s face it, stress is a fact of life these days. And we all know how bad it can be for your overall health to let stress get to you. Heart problems, weight gain, insomnia—all have been linked to stress. And now they’re telling us, stress can even affect kids. Yikes!

So you make a to-do list, try to stay cheerful, eat right, exercise, and not let the pressures of parenting overwhelm you. But sometimes you need to break the whole unhealthy cycle with something bold. So do something really proactive, like take the whole family on the kind of trip where you’re all sure to leave your worries behind: a dude ranch vacation.

“There’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse.”  Former President Ronald Reagan said it often, although the quote has also been attributed to Winston Churchill. No matter who said it first—these guys have a good point.

Yep, just get out of Dodge (or San Francisco, LA, or New York) and into the saddle. Step into a place where healthy doses of exercise and good food are all part of the package. And just take in a lungful of all that clean, pine or sage-scented air and sip that good, clean water. If cities could bottle that air, they would have tried a long time ago.

One you’ve booked the ranch and gotten yourself there, that’s just about the last of your worries. You step onto the property, you pretty much are in their hands for the rest of the week.  And that means your only cares are what to have for breakfast and which activity to jump into.

The silence out on a remote ranch—especially at night— can take a bit of getting used to. Yeah, right—about a minute. Then you might realize what’s been keeping you up at night back home (all that ambient city noise, or maybe the neighbor with the barking dog).

That’s the thing about a dude ranch vacation. Out here, you have time again. You can do a lot, or a little. Ride, fish, hike your buns off, or just laze in a hammock with a good book and the cheery call of a meadowlark piercing the silence. Either way, you just might get the best night’s sleep of your life out here on a ranch. And stress? It’ll just be yesterday’s nightmare.

Editor’s note: Check in every Monday for the rest of the series: 5 reasons America needs a dude ranch vacation…now!