Nature and water have healing properties. Spending time in such environments — and creating more space for them in your life — can improve your body and mind.
It may also ease the symptoms of chronic disease and lower certain health risks. Discover how you can benefit from blue space therapy.Â
What Is Blue Space Therapy?
Blue space therapy is a holistic intervention that involves increasing your exposure to natural bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers and oceans. Many people take it further, making blue space therapy more accessible through their decorating choices and use of water features in their landscaping.Â
Previous research into blue space therapy suggests that exposure to such areas provides a needed respite from a socially overstimulating world. As outside demands fall away, your mind begins to reset as levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol drop, bringing fresh clarity to thought processes.Â
Some scientists believe other mechanisms play a role. For example, water releases negative ions when it breaks into small pieces, such as rain or a waterfall’s spray. Related investigations into the benefits of grounding or earthing suggest that negative ion exposure may improve several health conditions. Multiple factors likely combine to make blue space therapy so effective.Â
5 Surprising Benefits of Blue Space Therapy
The benefits of blue space therapy may affect mental and physical health through several mechanisms. Â
1. Mitigate Stress Levels
Blue space therapy’s effect on stress lies behind its additional healing properties. Stress increases systemic inflammation, which worsens chronic illness symptoms and increases your risk of infections and catastrophic events like heart attacks.Â
Stress affects every system in your body through various channels. For example, your neurotransmitters and hormones interact closely, and an imbalance in one often causes misalignment in the other. It’s one reason that women with certain reproductive conditions like PCOS find that their symptoms increase when they feel under pressure.Â
2. Lower Blood Pressure and Heart Disease Risk
Stress also affects your ticker, and heart disease remains the number one killer of men and women globally. Blue space therapy is a potentially free intervention that could contribute to lower risk.Â
High blood pressure threatens your cardiovascular health by putting too much pressure on the surrounding vessels, raising your risk of having a heart attack. The stress hormone cortisol can increase your blood pressure, but blue space therapy reduces it.
Stress hormones also impact your blood sugar. As cortisol increases, insulin secretion decreases, leading to high glucose levels. Over time, high blood sugar damages your blood vessels, raising your risk of heart disease. Blue space therapy may mitigate cortisol levels, preventing this imbalance.Â
3. Decreased Chronic Pain
Blue space therapy may reduce chronic pain through several mechanisms. One of those is cortisol. While normal cortisol secretion has an anti-inflammatory effect, the opposite can occur when levels become chronically elevated. Imbalances promote the release of certain inflammatory substances associated with worsening symptoms in conditions like arthritis.Â
Even the sound of water can serve as a gentle reminder to stay hydrated, which also eases pain symptoms. After all, your cartilage is 80% water, so adequate hydration helps it function at its best. Conditions like arthritis damage cartilage, so nurturing the remaining healthy tissue matters.Â
4. Reduced Gastrointestinal Distress
Your amygdala is a part of your brain that directly processes your fight-flight-freeze stress response. However, you aren’t unusual if getting nervous upsets your stomach, and scientists recently discovered another reason why.Â
Your amygdala connects to your gut via your vagus nerve, sending messages to your Brunner’s glands. These glands secrete mucin, a critical substance for maintaining a healthy intestinal environment and preventing leaky gut. When something triggers your stress response, your amygdala tells your Brunner’s glands to halt mucin production.Â
This response makes evolutionary sense — your body can’t waste resources on digestion when fleeing a hungry lion. However, researchers are now investigating what role this connection plays in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. In the meantime, blue space therapy may help.Â
5. Fewer Mental Health Symptoms
Millions of people struggle with anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, some people find treatment inaccessible, and others find that medications and talk therapy don’t always help. Spending time in blue spaces may lift symptoms for some. The improvement may be temporary, but regular exposure paired with additional interventions may help.Â
Evidence also suggests that blue space therapy can help with mental health disorders like bipolar and schizophrenia. However, additional interventions, such as ensuring the individual is in a safe location close to home, may improve results in those with psychotic conditions.Â
7 Ways to Practice Blue Space Therapy at Home
Although you can find retreats that integrate blue space therapy as a treatment modality, you don’t need a prescription or any money to try it. Use these seven suggestions to inspire your healing practice.Â
- Take a bath: Include Epsom salts for their additional relaxing qualities. Bring a speaker to create a watery soundscape, like the sound of a waterfall or rain or use a spa bubbler or mat to circulate the water and create an auditory component.Â
- Install a water feature: The sound of running water triggers many of the same neural pathways as gazing at it. A miniature fountain on your desk or a larger one near your backyard meditation spot soothes you.Â
- Visit your nearest body of water: Spending time near water is the ultimate blue space therapy. Take your yoga mat and practice on the beach. Float in a canoe or kayak in calm waters to let the gentle rocking motion soothe your nervous system.
- Tune into a relaxing water video: Many apps transform your TV into a soothing water feature. YouTube may be the best resource of all — simply type in waterfall, rain or river. If you always keep one earbud in, tune into such a video on your phone and focus your awareness on that stimuli when the chaos outside gets too much.Â
- Incorporate blue elements into your decor: Blue and green colors remind you of water and trigger a relaxing effect in many. It’s one reason financial institutions often use blue paint — the shade denotes calm trustworthiness. Using it in your decor incorporates a bit of the water element in daily life.Â
- Go swimming: Swimming is a fabulous form of exercise, especially for people with arthritis, because it causes little stress on the joints. Simply lounging on a pool float amid beautiful scenery can induce relaxation.Â
- Stay hydrated: Water matters inside and out, and dehydration can produce many unpleasant health symptoms while making existing ones worse. Carry a reusable bottle with you and use it often.Â
Blue Space Therapy Benefits
Blue space therapy harnesses the twin powers of nature and water to soothe your central nervous system. This holistic intervention has multiple physical and mental health benefits. Best of all, it costs far less than traditional modalities, and there are things anyone can do for free. Seek ways to incorporate more blue spaces into your life and mindfully observe the improvement in how you feel.Â
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