Imagine soaking up the brilliant sun rays, walking on sand grains while the gentle sea waves caress your feet, breathing in the salty sea breeze, and enjoying the warm hues of the majestic ocean and the brilliant sky.
Shirley says, “Spending a day by the sea has the ability to regenerate and restore your body completely. Whenever my children are feeling unwell or lethargic and especially when they were babies – I always take them to the beach for a natural day of healing and inner peace.”
The sun, sand, and sea waves always lift our spirits and shower us with plenty of health benefits. With summer around the corner, wouldn’t it be great to plan a day at the beach? With this thought, let’s discuss all the healing benefits of the beach.
Benefits of spending your time on the beach
#1. Seawater cleans your skin.
Ever wondered why you feel so good when walking barefoot on the beach? When you walk across those tiny grains of sand, over 7000 nerve endings in each foot get a gentle massage.
Sand is an excellent exfoliant. When you walk along the beach, the sand does an excellent job of exfoliating your skin.
Also, the beach water helps in detoxification. When the sun’s warmth opens the pores, the seawater rushes in and pulls out the toxins. Shirley says, “water deeply cleanses the mind-body and soul. The seawater helps cleanse, blocked pores, and reduce breakouts.”
Magnesium present in seawater not only softens skin roughness and reduces inflammation but leaves your skin moisturized and hydrated.
Having a bath in seawater is excellent for people with psoriasis. The iodine has an antibacterial action and greatly reduces bacteria and fungi on your skin that could cause breakouts. Likewise, potassium chloride helps heal dermatitis.
#2. Seawater improves your overall wellbeing.
Shirley says, “I’m a huge believer in listening to your body. We all have the ability to do that, but often we overlook it and instead listen to others about what’s good for us and what’s not. Your body will tell you what it needs — we just need to learn to listen.”
So when your body begs for a day of rest after a stressful week. Please do yourself a favor, listen to it and spend a day by the beach.
Scientists say living by the beach leads to an enhanced state of physical health and wellbeing. When you come in contact with water, you enter a meditative state that’ll make you healthier, happier, calmer, more creative, and more capable of awe.
The sounds, smell, playing in the sand, swimming, or surfing, or sitting and enjoying the view of the ocean causes the body to release positive endorphins in the brain. These chemicals act on the opiate centers in your brain, reduce the feeling of pain, and enhance pleasure, resulting in wellbeing.
#3. Spending a day by the sea reduces stress.
Scientists classify our mood as red mind and blue mind. Red mindset is an anxious mind, a byproduct of urbanization and heavy reliance on technology. The American Psychological Association reports that 90 percent of young adults and half of all adults have become addicted to computers or cell phones. This aspect has vastly increased the stress levels.
Spending time by the water decreases anxiety, and stress levels engage all the senses and make us feel better. This state of relaxed, calm mind is the blue mind.
Likewise, the constant bombardment of news, spending too much inside the house may lead to a lack of motivation, dissatisfaction, and lethargy known as the gray mind. The best antidote for this problem is to spend your time near water as it calms you down, improves your mood, makes you a lot happier, and increases your zest for life.
#4. The beach enhances your immune system.
Your trips to the beach bless you with some excellent benefits for your immune system. The bright sunlight helps your body absorb vitamin D. Spending just 10 minutes in the sunshine increases your vitamin D levels. Be known vitamin D helps prevent autoimmune diseases.
Seawater contains several nutrients and other compounds that enhance your immune system. Shirley says, “Sea salt strengthens the immune system and clears your mind reducing anxiety.”
“Seawater is rich in minerals that help clear airways and improves breathing, reducing allergies and diseases such as sinusitis or rhinitis. Breathing the sea breeze improves circulation from the air to our lungs, helping them to cleanse naturally.”
The waves contain iodine which ensures your metabolic rates and energy levels are optimal. Likewise, iodine promotes hair and nail growth, helps regulate hormone levels, and has anti-cancer properties. When you enjoy swimming in the sea, this essential supplement gets absorbed by your skin.
#5. The blue sea gives you a perspective.
Ponder this? While you’re just staring at the ocean, have you felt so close to Mother Nature? Some of you would have even got a fresh perspective for some complex life questions. When you stare at the ocean, it alters your brain waves and puts you in a calm meditative state.
The grandeur of the ocean might make you feel small and insignificant and gives a more profound understanding that there will be things that will be bigger than you and beyond your control––The thought itself is compelling. It may help you become humble, more creative, and live life in a more meaningful way.
The vastness of the ocean, the surrounding beauty, and the expansive horizon help you appreciate nature and make you feel at peace, relieving life’s daily stressors. Practicing a bit of meditation or yoga will make you feel one with the earth and your inner being.
Wrapping up
“May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand in your shoes”––This beautiful quote sums up the essence of the healing benefits of the beach. Make it a priority to spend some time by the beach with your loved ones. Life is beautiful, so make the most out of it.
