It’s embarrassing how many of my conversations these days start with “I was listening to a podcast….” Podcasts are something D and I both got into during lockdown, and one of those good things that stuck. (Unlike the daily sundown glass of wine which has now been banished, but that’s another story.) For podcast referrals, D is even worse than me, it’s his go-to morning exchange, which usually sets off a simultaneous eye-roll and snicker.
So anyway…. This morning, I was listening to a podcast. (Yes, it’s ok if you eyeroll too.) The guest was Annabel Streets, an award-winning writer, who was discussing how to (and how not to) walk. It was more interesting than a podcast on walking sounds, because she covers all aspects of optimizing the humble walk. Did you know, for example, that just 12 minutes of walking enhances your metabolites profile? And that solo-walking helps come up with a solution to a problem? Or that there’s a best time of day to walk …? Me neither! Here’s the podcast, if you’re interested.
The part of the podcast that jumped out at me however, was when she started talking about the effects of walking next to water. I walk next to water daily, and it makes me feel good. I have no idea why. Yet science and evolutionary reasons both tell us why. Science shows hormones, brain activity, blood pressure and immunity get positive changes from walking next to water. Streets talks about finding a body of water, referring to Central Park’s ponds for New York city dwellers, because most folks don’t have access to the ocean. Water studies have only been studied for the past 3 years, so it’s all new, and therefore much more fascinating research is yet to come over the next decade. On the topic of evolution, she asks us to go back millennia, to the days we were nomads and all we needed to survive was water, and food that was always found nearby. Encoded in our genes is that when we find water, we know we will survive, and our stress levels and cortisol levels literally evaporate. To this day, when we are near water, our body says “Hey I can survive. Water means survival which means happiness.” It’s that simple!
It got me thinking, does this mean that folks like us in the Cayman Islands who live near water are actually happier? Turns out Wallace J Nichols, a marine biologist and the author of Blue Mind, has written a book about the physical and psychological benefits of water, to find out just that. Outside of books, it seems, whomever you ask, everyone has a spot near a body of water that they refer to as their ‘happy place’. For me it’s the bay between Starfish Point and Finger Cay in Cayman Kai, with Point of Sand in Little Cayman as a close second.
Since humans started exploring the planet, we’ve followed the water. Crossing oceans gave way to new discoveries and changed the course of history; chasing rivers opened our horizons. As travellers, we seek waterways on holiday, driving new coastlines in search of wild surf spots. We return to familiar blue spaces we grew up around. Month after month, water graces the covers of travel magazines. And we can’t get enough of it.
The immeasurable sense of peace that we feel around water is what Nichols calls our ‘blue mind’ – a chance to escape the hyper-connected, overstimulated state of modern-day life, in favour of a rare moment of solitude. Research has long found that humans are pulled towards Mother Nature’s water partly for its restorative benefits. Take the Victorians, for example: doctors in that era prescribed sea air as a cure for all sorts of issues, from pulmonary complications to mental-health conditions.
More recent studies – including those by former non-profit project Blue Gym – have found that people who live near the coast are generally healthier and happier. So maybe we are onto something here in Cayman. Other studies have found that when shown photographs of natural green spaces, people’s stress levels drop, plus the more blue spaces in the photos, the more they prefer them. Nichols, who has spent the past 25 years studying our relationship to water, has heard of everything from a drop of dew on a flower to the vastness of the Pacific Ocean providing a sense of calm.
Real-estate data suggests a water view adds a 116.1 per cent premium to a property; and real-world figures reveal we’re willing to pay 10 to 20 per cent more for the same room with a sea view in a hotel. For the ultimate in Cayman’s luxury, tourists seek out hotels on Seven Mile Beach with that turquoise view. Property on the beach is getting few and far between, so that a canal home can now command a premium simply because you have water outside the house.
Our love of water is pervasive, and the reasons behind why we travel – and rack up hefty credit-card bills (oops) – to be beside the water can be hard to articulate. “You’re paying for a feeling,” Nichols is quoted as saying. “When you ask people to describe that feeling, it’s hard for them to say anything other than they really like it, need it, and are willing to pay a lot of money for it.” Can’t argue with that, Wallace.
Destination weddings to be beach side or lakeside are a growing industry. Travel for ‘Nature bathing’ is a growing global phenomenon, and whilst pine forests are few and far between here in Cayman, (although the mastic trail is a great substitute) we certainly have an abundance of the benefits that being surrounded by water brings. And looking at the people who live here, the associated happiness is palpable. When we physically enter the sea, our bodies can rest muscles used every day and work others that are used far less frequently. Not only that, but we give up gravity, creating a break for your brain. Time spent in the water is an opportunity for insightful thinking, creative output, and quality conversations.
“Our oceans, waterways and the life they contain are so much more than their ecological, economic and educational value. They have vast emotional benefits. They make life on earth possible, but also worth living,” says Nichols. “I like to imagine the world would be a better place if we all understood just how true that is. Water is medicine, for everyone, for life.” Lucky us.