During the 10 summers I lived in New York City, I would often get to work hours before my coworkers so I could race out early
and catch the 5:06 P.M. train to my hometown. Why? Because an hour
later I'd be floating on the Long Island Sound on my parents' boat. That
packed train ride? Forgotten. The screeching of tires and horns and coworkers? Silenced. My deadline? Tomorrow's problem.
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The
primal pull of water isn't just a me thing; it's an everyone thing.
There's an evolutionary reason we're attracted to vast salty oceans,
lakes, rivers, swimming pools,
burbling fountains in the park, even a humble tubful. "When our
earliest ancestors looked for places to settle, they naturally sought
out water sources necessary to survive," says Wallace J. Nichols, PhD,
a marine biologist and researcher at the California Academy of Sciences
in San Francisco. "It became genetically advantageous for humans to be
attracted to water and find it." As the old saying goes, Thousands have
lived without love, not one without water.
Survival aside, why is water such a shortcut to happiness?
"It triggers a physiological reset, relaxing the nervous system and
allowing you to quiet the noise and worry that life typically brings,"
says Justin Feinstein, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, OK. In his book Blue Mind,
Nichols describes "a mildly meditative state characterized by calm,
peacefulness, unity, a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with
life in the moment."
Mmm,
sounds nice. And there's more where that came from: Whether we're on,
in, near, or under water, the benefits to our health and wellness run
deep, and the ripple effect extends to all areas of our life.
Water Washes Away Stress
You
know how just dangling your feet in a pool can be instantly refreshing?
That's your blue mind in action. When Feinstein and a team of
researchers took brain
scans of people before and after they floated in warm pools, "we saw
drops in heart and respiratory rates, and a decrease in brain waves,
just from being in the water," he says. But it's about more than simply
relaxing in a comfortable environment: "There's something very specific
about the water that lets you disconnect from reality."
[post_ads]Sometimes spotting that pretty blue horizon is all it takes. "Being around water allows you to become less ruminative and anxious,
and it seems to happen reflexively," says Feinstein. "The
threat-detection centers of our brains — the part that kicks off the
fight-or-flight response — shut down a little."
Survival theory may explain water's power: We're hardwired to scan our environment for danger, and when you're on, say, a beach,
you often have an open vista and can see what's coming. (In urban or
wooded areas, on the other hand, we never know what could jump out, so
our brains remain on alert.)
As
for those silly-seeming tabletop fountains you flip past in catalogs?
They could be a smart buy for a pressure-filled office or a bedroom that
sees more sheep than sleep. In one study, patients with anxiety tied to
cancer
and chronic pain were shown a nature video that included various water
sounds. They experienced a 20 to 30 percent reduction in stress hormones
such as cortisol.
It Makes You More Creative
If you've ever solved something big in the shower
or busted through a mental block after taking a walk on the beach,
science says it's no coincidence. "When the brain stays focused for too
long, it's like leaving a light on — eventually you'll burn out the
bulb," says M.A. Greenstein, PhD,
an expert in applied neuroscience. "That's why you sometimes get stuck.
But water may help you turn off that switch so your brain can go into
'drift mode'" — which is key to creativity. Your brain uses less energy
when drifting, but it's working smarter, not harder. And in that do-less
mind state, the "aha" you've been waiting for surfaces.
Water Gives You Lasting Energy
When
choosing your next getaway, consider a trip that requires a tankini. In
a two-year study of nearly 3,000 people, psychologists looked at how urban parks, the countryside, and the coast affect people's psyches. The verdict? The seaside sparked the most positive
feelings of enjoyment, calm, and refreshment — regardless of how far
people had traveled to be near the water. Meaning you can get the boost
whether you hit the closest beach town or take a bucket-list trip to a
remote island.
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It's Nature's Healer
If Nichols could prescribe remedies to the masses, he says this would be his Rx: "Take two waves, a beach walk,
and some flowing river and call me in the morning." The mind-body
effects of water are so powerful that therapy programs for veterans
around the country use floating, swimming, and even surfing as ways to
help them cope with trauma such as PTSD.
"Most of the formative months of our brain development occurred in
utero," says Feinstein. "Even if we don't have any conscious memories of
that time, one of the reasons water resonates with all of us is that it
immediately creates that essence of being in a womblike environment of
safety — and that's essential for healing."
So
maybe it all comes down to the fact that water was our first personal
oasis, worth tapping into whenever and wherever we can. Adult swim,
anyone?
3 Ways to Get Your Water Fix
No more vacation days? You can still give your brain a refresh.
Change Your Screen Saver to Something Beachy:
A study from Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden showed that just having a picture of a water scene on the wall reduced anxiety in patients. "Water is such a powerful force that even looking at images of it has been found to signal our brain to release dopamine, the feel-good chemical," says Nichols.
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Take a Time-Out in the Shower:
Napping may
seem like a good way to reboot, but getting wet could work faster.
"People will say, 'Just give me 10 minutes — I need to jump in the
shower, then I can think again,'" Feinstein observes. Here's why: When
that water hits you, "you reconnect with signals coming from within your
body," he says. "The brain isn't dealing with the tactile sensory input
from the outside world, so you're able to feel things like your
heartbeat and your breath."
Get a White-Noise Machine:
Research has shown that listening to water sounds
— waves, waterfalls, the pitter-patter of rain — reduces worry and
anxiety. It's no wonder noise machines, designed to help you tune out
the world, come with so many H2O
options. "They're an effective way to block out other distractions,"
because they make it easy to forget we're listening to anything at all,
says Stéphane Pigeon, Ph.D, a sound engineer. "Our brain is able to accept water sounds without having to work at processing what we're hearing."
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