Why do we love the sea? A Love Letter to the Sea — Part 2
The reasons why you probably are a ‘Thalassophile’ too!
While having mentioned my personal connection to the sea, which I have explained in Part 1, I am far from being alone, and I share the love for the sea with the majority of the humans as the research shows. We love going to the seaside for walks whenever we can, beach holiday is the most popular type of holiday, some of the most romantic moments in life take place near a water body. We get exercise and enjoyment from water sports; refresh ourselves with long showers and hot baths. Many people are ready to pay a higher price for the houses with sea views when they could have bigger and more luxurious places inland for less money. Wallace J. Nichols, the writer of ‘Blue Mind’ says “We hold important ceremonies by water. Both in life and in death, we gather by water when we can, if we can’t gather outside by water, there’s often a water component indoors.”
So why are we drawn to the sea this much ?
The ancestral calling of water
According to many cultures and religions in the world, it is one of the significant symbols of humankind to which we attribute ritual meaning. It is linked to the origin of existence of human beings and life-death cycle.
Wallace J. Nichols, the writer of ‘Blue Mind’ says “We hold important ceremonies by water. Both in life and in death, we gather by water when we can, if we can’t gather outside by water, there’s often a water component indoors.”
Since ancient times, humans believed in the healing and transformational properties of water. Baths were an important part of life in some cultures, a place where citizens were going to find relaxation and to connect with others. In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicinal wisdom, and traditional Chinese medicine, the water is very important to balance the body and to ensure physical harmony. Rivers have long been seen as sacred places; and in multiple contexts, water has symbolized rebirth, spiritual cleansing and salvation.
The biological and evolutionary importance of water
Our bodies are 78% water, and we need water for crucial body functions such as breaking down food and regulating our body temperature. As Poet W.H.Auden says “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”
Our bodies are nearly the same density as water, which enables us to float. Our mineral composition is similar to the mineral composition in the sea. Science writer Loren Eiseley describes human beings as “a way that water has of going about, beyond the reach of rivers.” Our bodies are an extension of the water surrounding our world.
We spend the first nine months of our lives in the ‘watery’ environment of our mother’s womb.
The water is where we came from on an evolutionary basis. Our ancient ancestors evolved from swimming to crawling and to walking; from the sea to the land. We built first villages by the water bodies and depended on water for our survival for thousands of years. Neuroscientist Michael Crawford suggests that when humans were separated from apes, they stuck close to rivers and beaches and fed on fish, clams and crabs. This new diet promoted brain growth due to essential fatty acids.
Serenity and calmness
Looking into a big body of water gives us the perspective about life. Our problems look smaller, and we feel connected to the world and other people. When we are in the state of observing or interacting with water, we experience a feeling of ‘awe’ which generates feelings of a connection beyond oneself, a sense of the greatness of nature and our experience in this world. . Staring out at the ocean changes the frequency of brain waves and puts us into a mild meditative state and a calm focus. Brain imaging research has shown that proximity to water is linked to our brains releasing feel-good hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin. Marine biologist and conservationist Wallace Nichols describes this response as “a trigger telling your brain you’re in the right place”. He believes that we all have a “blue mind” — as he puts it, “a meditative state characterized by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life at the moment” — that’s triggered when we’re in or near water.
Water puts us at ease. Warm swimming pools or bathtubs have the effect of calming us down, maybe similar to the sensation of calmness in mother womb. It gives us a feeling of ‘escape’, somewhere we get away from a world getting more and more crowded and the hustle of daily life. Seaside is as far as we can go without getting on a boat. We feel freedom, privacy and tranquility near the sea.
Being in a mindful state — in which the brain is relaxed but focused — has multiple benefits for the mind and the body including lower stress levels, relief from mild anxiety, pain and depression, improved focus and better sleep quality. In 2012, a University of Exeter study found that simply living close to a beach improves one’s health and wellbeing. No wonder, majority of the Blue Zones are the places close to the sea (‘Blue zones’ are geographic areas in which people have low rates of chronic disease and live longer than anywhere else.).
John Jerome wrote in his book “Blue Rooms” that “the thing about the ritual morning plunge, the entry into water that provides the small existential moment, is its total privacy. Swimming is between me and the water, nothing else. The moment the water encloses me, I am, gratefully, alone.”
Having access to water is essential for human survival. We have always been built villages near sources of it, with other benefits including irrigation of crops, sanitation, food and transportation. Since the first human walked the earth, we have been constantly looking for water. We might have evolved with this instinctive feeling of joy, peace and unity feelings whenever we see a water body.
In 2010 researchers at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom asked forty adults to rate over one hundred pictures of different environments. Respondents gave higher ratings for positive mood and preference to any picture containing water, whether it was in a natural landscape or an urban setting, as opposed to those photos without water.
The color ‘blue’
Blue is the color which conveys calmness, serenity and relaxation according to color therapy researches. Workout facilities, hospitals, and spas use it for this reason. Hyperactive children, for example, are helped with concentration intensive tasks by sitting under a blue light. Chromatherapists use blue to treat depression and pain. Darker shades of blue might be helpful for people with sleeping disorders because it is thought to have sedative properties.
Scientific research from Richard Shuster shows that just being near the color blue has led to “an overwhelming amount of people to be associated with feelings of calm and peace”.
It also gives the sense of reliability, which explains why the brands who want to convey trust and reliability use the color blue in their products or ads. The color blue is chosen as the favorite color of the majority of the people around the world, and marketing research has found that people tend to associate it with qualities like calm, openness, depth and wisdom.
Stillness and creativity connection
The sea is also known to help us think with clarity, providing the stillness of mind needed for us to effectively solve problems. Hopping in the shower, as many people know, can be a great way to trigger ideas, to make new or unusual connections. Being around or under the flowing water gives our brains a rest from the over stimulation that we experience in our daily lives. Our brains are in a ‘soft fascination’ state meaning we get the sensory input but not overloaded by it, in comparison to a ‘hard fascination’ state we experience while watching an action movie.
“The shower is a proxy for the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean,” says Nichols. “You step in the shower, and you remove a lot of the visual stimulation of your day. Auditorially, it’s the same thing — it’s a steady stream of ‘blue noise.’ You’re not hearing voices or processing ideas. You step into the shower and it’s like a mini-vacation.”
This calm state of mind and the lack of audiovisual stimulants inspire us, reminds us of other possibilities that we have when we get out of our own heads, and makes us more creative. We get a cognitive break due to the less information coming in, our brains start resting and wandering freely. This state of brain network is associated with daydreaming, imagination, consolidation of memories, self-referential thought, insight and introspection.
The sound of the waves
The sound of the waves similarly can help us achieve a meditative state due to the repetitive and calming sound. When we are listening to the sound of waves, the sound around us from an an auditory perspective, is simplified. “It kind of de-stimulates our brains,” says Richard Shuster, PsyD, clinical psychologist. It’s not quiet, but the sound of water is far more simple than the sound of voices or the sound of music or the sound of a city. No wonder the sound of waves are mostly played as in the background of yoga and meditation classes, or used as sleeping aid, or as ‘white noise’ when we need to focus.
Our brains are always hungry for new stimulus through our senses, even when we’re asleep. When we hear the white-noise like sound created by waves, that thirst for information is satisfied. However, our brain is unable to decode any meaning from it. It is similar listening to a song with lyrics in a language we cannot understand. And when our brain cannot interpret the noise, then it can relax, still satisfied.
In addition to this effect, this slow and consistent rhythm to the crashing might be reminding us our first experience with the rhythm, in the womb, with our mother’s heartbeat. As humans, we have a rhythm in many things that we do, such as walking, talking and eating. We even set different sounds to a rhythmical structure, creating what we call ‘music’. When we listen to music our brains try to synchronise with its beat. Slow music causes our brainwaves to decrease their frequency becoming the slower brainwaves, which we commonly experience during sleep. The same thing is happening when we listen to the sound of the sea. Our mind slows downs. Rhytmic music, watching rhytmic dance shows, wind chimes, watching fire, even the repetitive, oddly satisfying youtube videos, ASMR videos create same type of calmness in our brains. According to William Dorfman, a psychology professor at Nova Southeastern University, the white noise of waves breaking on the rocks relaxes our brains and stimulates the production of feel-good hormones in our body.
The air
The negative ions (oxygen ions with an extra electron attached, produced via water molecules) in the ocean air can actually help calm your brain.There is a branch of medicine called climatotherapy that studies the effects of different bioclimates on people. According to a research by the University of Milan, an oceanic climate (strong ventilation and ultraviolet radiation all year long), is good for the respiratory tract (but it is not suitable for those who suffer from muscle tension headaches). The bioclimate of the seaside regions is sedative, calming and helps recover from some diseases including heart attacks, seasonal allergies and even depressive disorders.
When we breath in the thick sea air with high salt content, it clears our throat and respiratory system, allowing better breathing and better quality sleep. Sea air is also known to keep you awake and energetic during the day because it is much cooler.
The water itself
Due to the saltiness of sea water, it has many properties that are beneficial to us. Small cuts or grazes are healed by salt and minerals. The sea has also been proven to help muscle problems or joint pains by relaxing them. Magnesium, calcium, and potassium are all skin-friendly minerals that can be found in sea salt. They help fight acne-causing bacteria and skin infections, reduce inflammation, and speed up the healing process. Sea can help us to get that glowy, free from acne, healthy skin without the expensive skincare products which are more and more using ingredients from the ocean.
The sand
The earth is negatively charged, so when you walk barefoot, you’re connecting your body to a negatively charged supply of energy. Walking barefoot (known as grounding or earthing) causes the electrical energy from the earth to be absorbed through your feet (especially on wet sand) and can lead to multitude of benefits.
In addition to this, our feet contain rich network of nerves and acupuncture points. Walking on barefoot will feel like a reflexology massage and help calm the mind and other health benefits.
Also, the sand will help exfoliate the dead skin off your feet, keeping your skin smooth and healthy.
Sunlight
The exposure to sunlight is really beneficial for the human body: it triggers the production of vitamin D. Vitamin D is very important because it helps our bodies to produce calcium, which in turn prevents many diseases as w get older. However, it can be dangerous to stay in the sun, so be mindful of using sunscreen and not being out for too long or during noon.
Effect of cold water
There are also benefits to swimming in colder water. The Wim Hof Theory states that swimming in colder temperatures helps with fat loss, reduced inflammation that facilitates a strengthened immune system, balanced hormone levels, improved sleep quality, and the production of endorphins. When you are cold, adrenaline is released to keep your muscles active and your senses alert. Regular swims in cold water improves your muscles, sharpens your mind and is strongly linked to longer life expectancy.
