Tell us about water

Walking to Fairy Meadow Beach, Wollongong

I don't have a waterfront house or live at the beach. I am an inner city mouse,without a love of the great outdoors other than as a tourist.I do however, have a strong pull to water. Without thinking, I am drawn to it. I find it calming and it relaxes and resets my emotions.

Lately, I've been reading a little as to why. This Instagram account @Goodneuroscience posted about Blue space. According to this article, blue space is anywhere  natural or man made, dominated by water. Lakes, Oceans, Fountains, you get the idea.

I like to exercise near water, and as I arrive to the harbour, I feel a shift. I feel it like a smile in my body, an inhale and release as I round the corner and see the water for the first time.

I thought it was just me appreciating how lucky I was to live near the beautiful Sydney Harbour. It is, in actual fact, a shift in my autonomic nervous system. This nervous system is what controls heart rate and breathing, among other things. Being near water calms it, increasing the function of the parasympathetic system. (This article goes into detail on the nervous system,  but the short version is it slows heart rate & enhances immunity. The signs of parasympathetic dysfuncion include stress, disturbed sleep, emotional reactivity and lack of energy). 

 

Fairy Meadow Beach, Wollongong

Even just seeing or hearing water for a few minutes can reduce cortisol.  So that feeling is not in your head, as I had assumed it was. It's biological.

The other effect water has is 'soft facination'. This means it draws your attention, without being intrusive. Waves, ripples, a running stream are constantly changing (but not threatening, so you brain engages effortlessly).
I would also add reflections but I don't know if that's part of it (or scientifically correct). I am always scanning for light and reflections in water.

I want to quote the instagram post and I will link directly when I can find it. "Directed attention depletes. When it does you feel mentally exhausted, irritable, and unable to concentrate.

Water gives it space to recover".

So that refreshed feeling after walking by water or lying by the beach is more than just happiness and well being, as I thought. It's a brain reset. This is called Attention Restoration Theory, and you can read more in this article.

The other side affect of this soft fasination is that it quietens the default thinking - the rumination, the running lists in the background, the anxious or negative inner nmonolgue, it all can't start up because your brain in distracted by the water. Again paraphrasing the instagram post, the water gives your brain an anchor that requires no effort and causes no stress.

Blue Mind theory is explained in this article. There are a number of physical and mental benefits from being near water. And you can use that for your good mental health and wellbeing.

This post also has some suggestions how to utilise this information, even if you don't live near water. Scroll to the end.

I found it interesting that I did so much of this intuatively, though I gave the feeling and mental shift I noticed different causes. While I get an F for my natural scientific deduction, I get an A+ for my health influencer ideas...and I really enjoyed reading futher into the subject.

I know it means something else, but it is still applicable. There's truth in the Slovakian proverb 'Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine.'

Have you noticed you feel a shift when you spent time near water?