We know water is good for us - we know we should drink at least 2 litres of it a day and we should imbibe in it's beneficial qualities daily. And yet we actively seek out the barista and coffee bar every day with vigour and entitled gusto (yes it is impertative that I have coffee before arriving at work) and perhaps begrudgingly stroll to the water cooler with disdain at some point in the day mumbling ‘oh I wish this was a cocktail I was getting’. No? - maybe thats just me.
Water as a symbol in ancient cultures is a vital element. Its the symbol for prosperity and abundance in Chinese philosophy, cleansing and purification in christianity and muslim religion, regeneration and purity in Judaism. Ancient Greeks associated it with emotion and intuition, the Egyptians saw it as a symbol for life alongside the sun and it has been part of so many elemental incarnations of basic human necessity for all manner of cultures.
So apart from ingesting water and ensuring our hydration (which we all know is good for us) and as a symbol of worship or veneration, we can also look at the benefits of water from a mental health perspective. There’s a lot to be said for bringing some water into your reality. Pebble bubble fountains are a thing because there is science behind it! Water serves as a calming element and having water around us has a direct impact on our mental health and cognition. We’ve kind of known this for centuries. Baths in Roman culture, coastal holidays English summer holidays, health spas in the country that have access to water and spending extended quality time in these environments has been used and promoted throughout human history for the privileged classes of society. So it stand to reason now that we explore the science behind this and actively promote this ideal for the betterment of all cities and the global population at large.
“Doctors were prescribing trips to the shore or visits to “bathing hospitals” — special clinics that offered seawater bath treatments — as early as the 18th century. ”
Research in the UK conducted by Mathew White an environmental scientist at the University of Exeter along with Professor Michael Depledge, founder of The European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) are exploring the effects of water and how it can advance our health. Turns out that initial studies are already promoting that access to water has a direct impact on our longevity, quality of life and disease prevention. The Blue Health initiative is promoting how water landscapes can positively influence our health and well being and how we can use this in our cityscapes for better quality of life. This relatively new initiative in Europe is advising countries how coastal living and even virtual aquatic environments can be used to actively promote well being and treat disease.
Whilst the exact science is still being explored, what we do know is that Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, which improves alertness and mental energy. Salt in seawater preserves tryptamine, serotonin, and melatonin, which aid in diminishing depression, giving us a better night’s sleep, and boosting feelings of well-being. This explains why the concept of living nearer to the coast may have a restorative or therapeutic effect on our bodies.
The way that water interacts with sound has a primary effect on our mood and this interaction has an instant calming effect on our sensory system. Those who float in tranquil pools of water have been documented as accessing more theta brainwaves which are slower than our usual conscious active (beta) brainwaves. Hence the argument for Floatation Devices and centres does have a scientific basis. Theta brainwaves can also be accessed with specific sound frequencies that can be induced with the way that water interacts with sound. Notice when you submerge in water, how sound is muted, changed and creates a sense of quiet, muted existence. The science behind this interaction is still being explored but the indications are all positive for our interaction with water and how it affects us.
Great bodies of water can also create a sense of awe and inspiration which does have scientific basis in making us happier, accessing frontal lobe stimulation along with increased seratonin, dopamine and oxytocin production. Standing on the edge of the cliff over an ocean creates a sense of perspective and can give one perspective of taking your mind away from smaller obsessions or issues that will seem perhaps a little more insignificant in the moment of awe inspiring landscapes.
This factor is beginning to being explored further in terms of how to incorporate water into our cityscapes and daily life in an effort to capitalise on this beneficial health promoting proximity. ‘Smart Cities’ are maximising their interaction of both Green and Blue spaces in cityscapes to help make our urban environments better places to live and increase the health of the population even to the point of reducing the amount of visits to a GP. The research is still young and more organisations are beginning to explore our interaction with water on a broader scale to help make our lives better.
Its also being used to investigate how introducing water environments can directly influence the treatment of social conditions. Jenny Roe at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh is at the forefront of exploring how water affects and influences our physiological responses in different environments. It’s a huge field and one where both green and blue health influences our bodies differently. Taking this into a real example, there is research being conducted to explore the effect aquariums can have on Alzheimer sufferers and the elderly, helping them to deal with the effects of these mental diseases. PhD student Deborah Cracknell (working with the ECEHH) also talks about investigating how aquariums can effect our heart rate, blood pressure and mood and the early results are quite encouraging.
So what does all this calming effect do for us? Does it just make us all dopey and creative people wandering around the planet as if we have all had a weekend imbibing in strange mushrooms or hemp laden intoxication? The default mode network of the brain activity is accessed from these calm states of bliss - these create direct modes of accessing creative thinking, lateral problem solving and creating thoughts in a way that isn’t accessed in our normal beta state. We think differently and our brain behaves in different ways which has direct influence on our bodies chemical and systemic reactions and it is this space that researchers such as White and Depledge are interested in exploring further.
Overall though the indications are that access to water and water environments does have a positive influence on our health. So it could be time to go and rethink that pebble bubble fountain or water feature in your calm space, get into the ocean, find the coast, visit the tranquil pools or waterfalls that have those lovely negative ions and ‘feel the serenity’.
