10 minutes | Saturday, August 26, 2023
Take virtual tours of 140 destinations at Wowzitude, expanding your mind through exposure to new cultures via immersive live-stream experiences. Founder and CEO Susan Black joins Suzanne to describe some of the destinations. It's part of intellectual wellness — expanding our minds, learning — one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. The trips come with trip kits. Susan says, "We love our trip kits. First we started with recipes. Each of our recipes is submitted by each of our guides, our, our 97 guides. So it's a family recipe, or it's a recipe that they have from one of the restaurants they bring us to. Can you imagine we actually go to a bakery in Porto, to see how they're making the very famous custards that they're known for? The baker has given us this great recipe to follow. So we try to tie this in, because who doesn't love to eat and tour at the same time? We have downloadable music, and by the way, the music can be upbeat or it can just get you in the mood, and we always start our tours with music, and slide shows, and everything else to get people in the mood. But we give that music in our trip kits. We also have book recommendations, so that you can do a reading group around it. You can have book club around it. We want to get groups together... movies. If you just want to have an immersion, that it's either filmed in that location, or it's about that location. And of course, fun facts. Some maps, and we love sustainable travel. So what that place is doing in terms of sustainability, and responsible travel, all that goodness in a single tour." Wowzitude is working with research groups to assess the benefits to our wellness, our curiosity, and sense of purpose. Susan says, "We've actually done surveys and we're working with two different research groups right now to see what the benefits are, what all this good stuff means to people. Once they go on a live-stream tour, they're able to engage. Even if you listen to other people's questions — you don't just have to ask your own — oftentimes your question's being asked, but it's very immersive and engaging, and what that level of group engagement means to wellness, to your mood. We're in the process right now of doing a full evidence-based research about the effects, particularly on older adults." Podcast listeners are eligible for a special promotion. Susan says, "If you sign up before October 1st, we will give a free Christmas market special tour, to all of your listeners, and only your listeners, as a special promotion on this podcast. Sign up at https://wowzitude.com/." Learn more:* Wowzitude: https://wowzitude.com/* Susan Black: https://wowzitude.com/susan-black%2C-founder* The Vitality Revolution podcast series: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/* Intellectual Wellness: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/intellectual-wellness/* Humana: https://www.humana.com/* Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/welcome-to-answers-for-elders/ Answers for Elders is part of the SeniorResource Network: https://www.seniorresource.com/Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.