This is the effect that the sea has on your brain
It is well known that our brain is constantly changing, even when we fall asleep or when we think our minds are blank.
It is what is known as brain plasticity: everything we experience causes our brain (and nervous system) to change in real time. That means there is not a moment in which our mind remains as it was a while ago.
However, there are certain experiences that change our mental life more consistently than others. In other words, the type of changes that they introduce in our brain are more recognizable and uniform.. This is the case of what happens during meditation or, for example, to feel that we are in front of the sea or the ocean.
Our mind changes when the sea surrounds us
There are many poets for whom the sea has been an element of clear inspiration; Pablo Neruda, for example, always made reference to this gigantic body of water in his poems. And that is not by chance: the sea causes a great impact when it is seen, and staying on its shores or waters for a while causes our brain activity to change a lot.
Let's see how it influences us.
1. Get us to relax and get out of the state of alert
The sea transmits a sensation of tranquility that extends to all parts of the body. The continuous and soft sound of the waves and the omnipresence of the color blue (which not only appears in the water, but also in a sky that in the sea does not appear covered by mountains or buildings) make us deeply relax.
In addition, near the sea it is difficult for there to be blind spots where possible dangers hide, because almost everything is flat and visible. The consequence of this is that we can allow ourselves to move away from the alert state that our sympathetic nervous system puts us into when we detect sources of stress.
2. facilitates meditation
The visual and sound stimuli related to the sea and the sound of the waves are very characteristic, and alter the activity of our brain. Specifically, enhance the appearance of alpha waves, related to a state of relaxation and little effort in which, however, the ability to manage the focus of attention does not disappear, something that does not happen during sleep.
When neurons start to fire following the pattern of alpha waves, the ability to carry out activities such as meditation and the mindfulness looks empowered; that is why lonely beaches are a place where normal or tai chi meditation is frequently practiced.
3. Lets break with rumination
The rumination is that vicious circle that our thinking follows when a concern obsesses us. Natural environments such as forests have proven to be good locations to walk around to make rumination disappear, and the same goes for the sea.
This is so because both the sea and the forests are places where there are hardly any elements that can be interpreted as references to our daily life, for which reason our thinking you can disengage from these obsessions, since nothing we see, touch or hear reminds us of our problems.
4. Generate well-being at low cost
Experiencing the immensity of the sea produces a curious form of well-being that is born from something as simple as attending to the stimuli related to this type of natural landscape. It is a kind of hypnotic effect in which we can stay for a long time and in which, surely, our cultural heritage plays an important role.
5. Power creativity
It has been proven that contexts that induce rapid and obsessive directing of attention outwards for a long time produce stress and negatively affect the solution of novel problems. This is so because our brain adapts to detect specific external stimuli very quickly, instead of dedicating resources to connecting ideas with each other.
The sea, by facilitating relaxation and providing a simple environment made up of few elements, makes it easier for our creativity to be released, connecting ideas that have never been connected before.