It’s summertime, the weather is warm, the kids are out of school, and perhaps you have a long-awaited vacation planned — which means you’re probably making plans to head to the beach.
Did you know that there are proven therapeutic benefits to being at the beach, or even near a body of water? Here’s how you can maximize your summer while getting therapeutic benefits along the way.
1. Being Near the Water
Simply being near the water can produce positive emotions, something proven by Wallace J. Nichols in his book Blue Mind.
As Nichols explains, part of this science has to do with our earliest years, existing in water inside our mother’s belly. Simply being near water produces relaxing and primal feelings.
So, whether it’s a river, lake, or beach, being near the water can itself be healing — and there’s plenty of science to back it.
2. Swimming
The next best thing to being near the water? Swimming, which itself has proven to be one of the healthiest thing a person can do.
It also has therapeutic benefits. Not only does it feel cleansing and like a giant hug; by exercising in water, you can release feel-good endorphins that mimic a runner’s high. Even the CDC recommends swimming as an effective way to address mental health.
3. Surfing
In my opinion, though, the most fascinating one is surfing. And its therapeutic effects aren’t just for pro surfers. Even by taking your first surf lessons, you can experience this too.
In 2010, I attended a surf therapy event that took children with autism surfing. What I saw was life-changing: children on the autism spectrum saying their first words, mothers crying, fathers taking photos. I spent 4 years researching how it was therapeutic, and the result was Waves of Healing: How Surfing Changes the Lives of Children with Autism.
That experience encouraged me to dig deeper on the therapeutic benefits of surfing and it was a joy to discover its many applications for a wide range of populations and affiliations, from police officers with PTSD, to young adults with cystic fibrosis, adults in drug rehabilitation, and more. This research is recorded in my latest book Surf Therapy: The Evidence-Based Science for Physical, Mental & Emotional Well-Being.
Even as someone who’s followed the surf therapy sector for over a decade, I was surprised at not only how many people surfing can truly help; I was surprised at how well it actually works. In many cases, surfing was life-changing for certain individuals, and in other cases, it was life-saving. As a final tidbit, did you know that ancient civilizations like Native Hawaiians were using surf therapy long before us?
So, the bottom line? Whether you’re near the water, in the water, or catching your first wave this summer, you’ll experience therapeutic benefits.
Cash Lambert is the author of Waves of Healing: How Surfing Changes the Lives of Children with Autism and Surf Therapy: The Evidence-Based Science for Physical, Mental & Emotional Well-Being. He is also the Founder and Director of Editorial for American Surf Magazine and American Outdoor Magazine. A former editor for Hawaii’s Freesurf Magazine, his articles have been featured in ESPN Outdoors, Surfing Magazine, Eastern Surf Magazine, the Outdoor Channel, Surfline, Stab Magazine, Flux, Patagonia and more. Cash lives with his wife and daughter in Florida.
