The Underrated Therapy for Anxiety and Stress: Water

There is magic in it

For most of us who are living in coastal cities such as Santa Cruz, we will often find ourselves at the water’s edge, resting, daydreaming, meditating, surfing, swimming, or simply watching the pelicans glide effortlessly across a wave face. Our fascination with water, be it the ocean, a pond, a river, or a lake, has long been the muse for many writers, poets, and photographers.

Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.

Herman Melville / Moby Dick

Our community has been fortunate. Blue Innovation on September 11, 2022 will host 40+ companies and organizations who focus on solutions to respect, protect, and celebrate our waters. We have famed National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom who will release Bay of Life in October.

The Blue Prophet

The most endeared prophet of water is Dr. Wallace J. Nichols aka “J”. J’s seminal work Blue Mind reveals the science behind the reasons why people who live near water are healthier and happier. In one of J’s research projects, he has subject enter a room with a 20’x40’ wall painting of a lush forest. The subjects are wired so that the researchers can track eye movement. All the subjects eye’s move to a dime-sized blue patch of water, though none of the subjects recall seeing water. Humans, as well as all living creatures, are drawn to water for survival. And when we find it, our mind, body, and spirits are put at ease. 20 attendees at Blue Innovation will receive free copy of Blue Mind autographed by J.

The Healing Power of Water

This is a recent article from The Wall Street Journal: Harness the Healing Power of Water, by Elizabeth Bernstein

On a dusty August day two years ago, Wallace J. Nichols hiked into the California valley where he had lived for more than 20 years to find his family’s home and all their possessions destroyed by a wildfire.

Stunned, Dr. Nichols searched the debris. He walked the entire property. Then he did the only helpful thing he could think to do.

He went down to the nearby creek, stripped off his clothes, and submerged himself.

Dr. Nichols, who is a marine scientist, was seeking the healing power of water.

It has been a rough few years. Many of us are finding ourselves exhausted, burned out, struggling to build balance back into our lives. We need to recharge.

Water can help. Neuroscientists say that spending time near oceans, lakes, rivers and other blue spaces can provide a range of benefits including reducing anxiety, easing mental fatigue and rejuvenating us.

Participating in water activities such as swimming or surfing can help us enter a “flow state” where we become fully immersed in what we’re doing. This calms our mind’s internal state, which is often absorbed by rumination and worry, says Ricardo Gil-da-Costa, a neuroscientist and chief executive of Neuroverse who has studied how water affects our brain.

Bodies of water also can produce a glorious sense of awe—the emotional response to something vast that expands and challenges how we see the world. Awe can decrease stress and help us put things into perspective.

“Water meditates us by taking away all the noise,” says Dr. Nichols, whose work focuses on how blue spaces affect our well-being. “All we have to do is show up.”

Water has special properties that may boost nature’s positive impact, environmental psychologists say. When you are near it, there is often less visual and auditory information to process. Our mind can rest.

The sound of water, typically steady and soft, soothes us. Its smell can provoke positive memories and associations. When we’re floating our body can rest, too, in a way we never can on land.

Most important: Water is dynamic. It moves rhythmically, producing a play of light, color and sound that is mesmerizing. It holds our attention, but not in an overly demanding way. Researchers call this soft fascination. It gives our brain a break from the intense, focused attention that much of daily life requires and that is cognitively depleting.

“Water helps your mind wander in a positive way,” says Marc Berman, director of the Environmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago. “This is what is so restorative.”

Here’s some advice on how to harness the healing power of water.

Remember that all water counts.

Spending time near oceans and other blue spaces can reduce anxiety, ease mental fatigue and rejuvenate us.

You likely have some close by, even if it is just a creek alongside the road. Start there. Then branch out to water you can visit on the weekend or a vacation.

Urban water such as rivers, canals and fountains counts. So does domestic water—in pools, bathtubs, even sprinklers. Pay attention to the sound, play of light and movement, says Dr. Nichols, author of “Blue Mind,” which explores how water makes us happier and healthier.

If you can’t get to the water, paintings, photographs, videos and movies can produce some of the same benefits, he says. If you want to boost the positive effect, choose locations that represent positive memories for you.

Even virtual reality helps. In research studies, computer-generated virtual reality water scenes boosted participants’ mood, likely because they got to interact with the environment.

Go often.

We can improve our well-being by spending time in or near water, research has found.

A little bit makes a big difference.

A 2019 study found that it takes at least two hours a week in nature to improve our well-being, which can be broken into smaller stretches. A more recent, yet-to-be-published study found that spending a similar amount of time near water has the same benefits, says Mathew White, an environmental psychologist at the University of Vienna who studies the health benefits of water environments and was lead researcher on both studies. Scientists also have found that people who peered into aquariums had lower heart rates and better moods after just 15 minutes.

Try a water sport.

Participating in water activities can help us enter a ‘flow state, ’ calming our minds, says neuroscientist Ricardo Gil-da-Costa.

And get good at it. This will help you experience a flow state where time, and your worries, fall away as you become fully engaged in what you are doing, says Dr. Gil-da-Costa. When you become proficient at an activity, your brain changes; it forms new neural pathways, which become faster and stronger. This makes it even easier in the future to enter a state of flow while doing this same activity.

Listen.

Water moves rhythmically, producing a play of light, color and sound that is mesmerizing.

It is no coincidence that nine of the top 10 most-popular soundscapes on the Calm app in July involved water. (No. 1: “Rain on Leaves.”)

One of the most calming properties of water is its sound, Dr. White says. In a study published in May, he and colleagues found that the water sounds people find most restorative are a rainforest with rain, a beach and a babbling brook. When the researchers added biotic sounds, from living beings, to the water sounds, people liked them even more.

Make an audio recording of your favorite water. It will trigger happy memories.

Use your imagination.

Our brain gets a break from the focused attention that much of daily life requires when we are near water.

You can spend time on the water anywhere, anytime in your mind. And when the water you imagine is water you have enjoyed in real life, the positive effect will be even stronger, Dr. Nichols says.

Often when I feel overwhelmed, I close my eyes and picture myself sailing years ago off the coast of Michigan with my dad and sisters. I visualize the sun sparkling on the water, the sound of the waves splashing against the boat, the voices of my family. Almost immediately, I feel calmer.

When Dr. Nichols surfaced for air after submerging himself in Mill Creek, behind the ruins of his still-smoldering home, he sobbed. Then he floated on his back until he felt calm.

Since then, he has gone into the creek each day after working on his property.