Why the sight of flowing water is soothing. Why water soothes us

Many of us know that calmness and creativity wake up in water. Science also confirms this. A recent study showed that people who live near the ocean feel less stress and have better health than those who live far from the water.

But what is it about water that makes us feel this way?

You probably have fond memories of being close to water: the beach you grew up on, the seas you carried on your honeymoon, the lake behind your grandma's house. There's a reason these memories make you feel relaxed: Research shows that water scenes can help you tap into stress and find joy.

Performance is reduced due to lack of water

“Water makes you happier, healthier, more connected to other people, and better at what you do,” says Wallace J. People have been using water for its healing properties for many years. The best way to think about what happens to your mind when you're "next to the water" is to think about what you're leaving behind, says Nichols. Say you are walking down a busy city street while talking on the phone.

To be honest, it's still a mystery, says psychologist Matthew White.

There seems to be something special about the water, but we still don't know what it is.

White and his colleagues have done quite a lot of research on the connection between water and our mental state. Together with marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, they are trying to theorize that water has calming properties.

You try to listen in on the conversation, but other activity is going on. Your brain needs to filter it out, he says. physical stimulation Everyday life huge. You are always processing, filtering and counting every sound and movement around you.

Your brain does all of this at lightning speed, which uses a lot of energy and leaves you feeling tired. Plus, even when you're looking to relax - at the gym or in a lively sports game - you're probably still getting a lot of stimulation. "Distraction can be physically and mentally stressful."

And while we don't know why water soothes us, there are some really powerful ideas that justify walking on the beach. summer rest by the lake or even a trip to the pool.

Get ready to dive in and go with the flow.

1. Water makes you feel more calm and meditative.

Now the picture is moving away from all this and is by the ocean. Everything is simpler and visually cleaner,” says Nichols. "Going to the water goes beyond distraction, it gives your brain a rest in a way that the gym doesn't." Of course, he adds that many things can calm your tormented mind: music, art, physical exercise, friends, pets, nature. "Water is one of the best because it brings together the elements of everyone else."

Research shows that simply being around water can increase levels of "feel good" brain chemicals and lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, Nichols says. The benefits are increased if you enjoy the sea with someone close to you. "We find that people's relationships deepen—they bond more," says Nichols. Being with someone in or around water, he says, can increase oxytocin levels, chemical which plays a role in building trust. write a new script about your relationship. “If your relationship is related to the fact that you are in stressful condition, domestic situations floating in the ocean can really improve your relationship.”

The most important thing is to take a break from chaos and fuss modern life. Many people experience a whole gamut of feelings by the ocean, but many of us agree that the water, the weather, and the sounds are intertwined into a single feeling of mental calm and tranquility.

2. Water slows down your brain impulses.

People who simply float on the surface of the water often experience changes in brain impulses. In addition to a sense of calmness, these new slowed brain impulses can increase the flow of creative ideas.

In the presence of water, Nichols says your brain does other things, like "mind wandering," which is key to creativity. You start working on the puzzles of your life on another level,” he says. It means epiphanies, "aha" moments, and innovations that don't always come to you when you're stressing.

You can drink from the tap, but you don't have to.

Stuck in a landlocked city or facing a dark cold winter? There is still hope there. “Water in all forms can help you slow down, disconnect from technology, and shift your thoughts,” says Nichols. "In the city or winter, floating spas, baths and showers, fountains and water sculptures, and water-related art can help you reap the same benefits." Not only are these experienced therapists, Nichols says they can also activate positive memories of previous water experiences, bringing you back to your happy place.

3. Water awakens a sense of delight

Standing at the edge of a vast ocean or swimming in a beautiful lake, you will definitely feel admiration and reverence for this great world and your tiny place in it. Feelings like this will “make happy” your brain, not to mention that they will lower the stress scale and increase your level of creativity and inspiration.

Water helps you heal

His advice: "End each day with a quiet hot bath as part of your winter routine." Alex Russell does not work for, consult with, own stock in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article and does not disclose any relevant connection outside of their academic assignment.

But people often abuse the word "taste". The wines are often described as tasting along the lines of "complex cherry and blackberry varietal flavors with the promise of herbs". In fact, the only flavor you get from wine is sweetness and a bit of acidity. Cherries, blackcurrants and the promised herbs are part of the taste of the wine, which is a combination of flavors and smells that enter the nasal cavity through the throat.

4. Creativity takes over

Have we talked about creativity yet? To be more precise, water makes you dream in a way that you would never dream if you were doing something specific. If you allow your brain to wander without barriers, you can find a solution to any problem. And that in itself is reassuring.

Our nose and mouth also pick up other sensations, such as pain or irritation, through chemical reactions. That tickle you get with wasabi or hot English mustard is actually a pain response. The same thing happens with chile.

Chili, capsaicin and hallucinations

The active ingredient in chili is capsaicin. It is also potentially deadly. And yet, the ability to eat very hot chili is often seen as a badge of honor.

Chili heat is measured using Scoville heat units, which is an inaccurate measure of capsaicinoids concentration.

5. Water can even make you feel numb... and that's a good thing

Part of the purpose of being free-floating is that the water and buoyancy make you "forget where the water ends and the water begins." your body". People who have experienced this have said they feel a weightless calm that they don't want to lose.

The chefs used goggles and face masks during preparations. After signing the reservation, Rothwell took an hour to eat the curry, including a trip to fresh air, during which he was said to have hallucinated, although he denies this. Unfortunately, chili-induced hallucinations are not well understood.

When my friend turned 21, we went to India. We ordered him to vindal only to have him say "Pfft, that's not hot enough" and send it back to the kitchen.

My friend bit, started sweating profusely and reached for any water he could find. Fortunately, the waiter was ready for this and brought a glass of milk over him, which immediately lifted the edge. That night he collected a decent amount of advice from my assistant.

So, whether you decide to drift on the water or sit on the pier by the lake, remember that the calming properties of water have a positive effect on your mind, body and soul. Let us not know why water calms us, the main thing is to let it do it.

Water soothes and heals

So why is milk, and not water, your spicy curry pain relief? Without getting into chemistry, capsaicin has a long hydrocarbon tail, which means it binds strongly to lipoprotein receptors on the tongue. Capsaicin is not water soluble, so water won't help, but it does dissolve in alcohol and vegetable oils. The beer is not very alcoholic, so it won't be done. Stronger drinks may help more, but there is a limit to how much alcohol you can have.

The traditional treatment is the mammal's milk. Milk contains casein, a fat-absorbing substance that essentially has a detergent effect on capsaicin, much like soap does on fat. But it has to be mammal milk - coconut milk does not contain casein.

Very often, people who are very excited are offered to drink a glass of cold water. We do this automatically and do not think why on earth we should expect a sedative effect.

Actually, here's what's going on. Firstly, the water is simply cooler than the body, and a reflex that brings peace is triggered in a person excited by worries. Secondly, there is a concentration, albeit unconscious, on the very process of drinking water, and a person involuntarily switches from an emotionally rich assessment of events to a more neutral one.

Experts reassure. No lime in water

But some chilies are still ridiculously hot, and milk can only help. And you'll likely want to prepare by putting your toilet paper in the freezer. Because they are afraid of arterial obstruction, some people use expensive decalcification equipment. Although it protects electrical equipment and lines, for health, it does not bring anything.

The British man wrinkles his nose, the German is afraid: a thin layer of small white pieces floats on the cup. It is clear that this comes from lime water. It is incomprehensible for a person from the island to drink tea with unfiltered water, which violates his sensitive British taste sensibility. But the German cares more about his health: does lime not lead to arteriosclerosis? And a heart attack or stroke? In an alarming find, a quick remedy: the descaling plant must be ahead, a few thousand euros is a good investment - after all, we are talking about your own health.

Thirdly, and most importantly, when emotional overstrain such a release of stress hormones into the blood and into all organs that in the end the concentration of these hormones becomes poisonous and a person develops dry mouth. He should drink something (preferably just water) (at least moisten his mouth), because it is necessary to dilute the destructive concentration of stress hormones in the blood. Moreover, in difficult stressful situations, a cleansing enema is used, and a gag reflex is activated to make it easier for a person.

Admittedly, the fear is understandable, as deposits in blood vessels are called lime, as well as in water pipes. "Lime in drinking water is not harmful to your health," says Franz Eberli, professor of cardiology in "On the contrary, tap water is even healthier than a bottle."

At the turn of the century, it was believed that blood vessels were so heavy that pus formed and hardened. A hundred years later, researchers from the hardened vessels of the pharaohs proved calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate - the latter is better known as lime. So the term arteriosclerosis probably appeared. The French pathologist gave the hardened vessels the name of arteriosclerosis - from ancient Greek words arteries for vein and sclerodus for severe. “Vessels become heavy either due to a genetic predisposition or as a reaction to constant stress, which is accompanied by complex biochemical changes,” Eberle explains.

Water acts for the benefit of a person as a natural solvent of substances that are chemically harmful to health, which one way or another, but are constantly formed in the process of life by our body itself. Therefore, it is very important to drink plenty of water - approximately at least two liters a day, including liquid from first courses, berries, fruits and vegetables.

What exactly happens there is not yet fully understood. If the vessel wall is overstressed - for example, with persistent high blood pressure - the wall thickens and stores fat and cholesterol. Stored cholesterol causes inflammatory response, which repairs the vessel wall,” Eberle says. Elastic fibers disappear, cholesterol crystals form, and dead cells accumulate solid calcium phosphate. By then it will be really dangerous, because if the vessel narrows so that the blood stops getting in, the heartbeat dies - that's one thing.

Water can be very different in quality: melted, distilled, purified, chlorinated from the tap ... The worst thing for health is this very common water - chlorinated. For cooking and drinking - in the absence of other cleaning methods - it is advisable to stand it for a day in a bucket or in a jar so that the chlorine evaporates. Better yet, get at least some kind of water purifier.

With deposits, water leaks less and takes longer to warm up

On the other hand, calcium-containing water has nothing to do with cardiovascular disease. Don't be afraid of arteriosclerosis, you won't get it, says Alexander Ghanem, chief cardiologist at the Asklepios Clinic. The groundwater absorb minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, as they move through rocks, gravel and underground. If there are too many of them and they cannot be solved, calcium carbonate forms as calcium carbonate and other chemical compounds.

Melt water is generally, so to speak, a separate song. It is not for nothing that even unemployed Americans-goners will not drink any drink (even iced tea) without throwing crushed ice into it. Generally melt water The easiest way to get it is in the refrigerator by putting water in a container in the freezer. As a matter of fact, this is the same water, but structured differently, which is what is needed.

Interior view of the tall potable water tank at Crottenbach near Nuremberg. Water quality is subject to nationwide strict regulation of the Drinking Water Ordinance. “Although we take in calcium and magnesium through the intestines into the blood, too much is excreted through the kidneys and intestines,” explains Ghanem. “If our body didn’t have this ingenious excretory function, we might as well calcify it internally, like an espresso machine.”

More and more more people complained about scale on the faucets or on the sink, says Sue. "These are matters of luxury, everything has to be nice and clean these days." To save customers the trouble of calcium deposits, we believe descaling is very important. The so-called dosing chemicals are added, which form protective layer inside pipes or bind undissolved ions that would otherwise precipitate as lime.

There is a theory according to which birds fly to us in the spring specifically to drink melt water: as if only in this case they can lay eggs and raise chicks.

Cool water can also be used externally to relieve stress. Every day at the beginning of the day and at the end, you can pour it over from a basin. It drains almost instantly, in three seconds, and the body does not have time to cool. But, overcoming this sharp change in temperature external environment, the body releases endorphins into the blood - hormones of pleasure, as after a successful business or event. It is also very important to have an appropriate mental attitude: if you expect the result with anticipation of joy, the effect will be more clear. In the absence of such self-programming, the result will be blurry.

It is extremely beneficial to walk barefoot in the dew. Many hidden forces in the body are turned on, as if renewal occurs in the nervous system. Everything is important - the dew itself, and the grass, and the earth, and moistened fresh air ...

The easiest way to reduce the effect of stress is to drink in small sips, making a minute pause between them, a glass of water. But in no case do not drink the whole glass in one gulp, namely gradually and in small sips.

10:01 04.02.2014

When a person is very excited about something, it is necessary to offer him water. Drinking water has many properties that help a person cope with stress. First of all, pure water it is simply cooler than the body, and a reflex that brings calmness is triggered in a person heated by worries.

With a serious emotional stress blood and organs are subject to the release of stress hormones. At high concentrations, these hormones become toxic and a person develops dry mouth. To get rid of this feeling, you should drink water, it will help get rid of the harmful concentration of stress hormones in the blood.

Pure water in human body acts as a natural solvent chemically harmful substances, which are constantly formed in the process of life. Therefore, it is necessary to drink water in large quantities. Experts recommend drinking at least 2 liters of water a day, while soups, juices, tea, coffee and other drinks do not count.

Unconditionally drinking water helps those who want to rid their body of excess weight. The water drunk by a person is able to gradually burn fat "reserves" and normalize the body's metabolic processes. Water also significantly and permanently relieves hunger. The more water you drink, the more your stomach will be filled with liquid and will not require something to eat again. Quite a few important role this process is played by the absence of any calories, fat and cholesterol in the water, as well as the low sodium content.

Drinking water also plays an important role in back pain. To reduce aching pain, you need to moisturize the body. The water that fills the dorsal base of the disc supports at least 75% of the weight, and the health of the spine is due to the hydraulic properties of the water.

Also invaluable help water for asthma patients. As you know, histamine is a mechanism that regulates life processes, and it is also one of the "controllers" protective functions organism. The optimal distribution of this substance is directly dependent on how many times and in what quantities drinking water was consumed. When the body is dehydrated, the amount of histamine in people with asthma increases, thereby stimulating defense mechanisms that begin to block the airways. Thus, the asthmatic syndrome can be alleviated or even prevented if the patient significantly increases their water intake.

During stressful situations a person is focused on a particular thought or problem. He does not know from this oppressive experience. But there is still a way out. When drinking water, attention is extroverted: it is transferred from the problem to the accomplishment. certain action. Attention is directed to the sensations inside the body after drinking water.

Drinking water during stress

During stress, the heart, kidneys and blood vessels work with an increased load, so they intensively release moisture. This happens as a result of how the heart, pumping blood quickly through the body, makes all organs and tissues that need a certain amount of moisture work hard. During stress, the body temperature rises, a person throws in a fever, therefore, the amount of moisture also decreases. This is one of the reasons for taking water during waves.

It also helps restore heart rate. Therefore, it is recommended for strong excitement take a few small bites. In addition, drinking water is a purely psychological moment. At this point, a person's emotions are interrupted from negative to neutral, and this, to a certain extent, helps to relieve stress. Chewable and swallowing movements have a calming effect. Compensated during water intake increased sweating during excitement, the attention of the central nervous system is also distracted from tension and directed to the processing of water.

Anxiety is a habit that needs to be eliminated immediately.

Excitement is stress, and it is by no means a secret that pressure rises during stress. As a result, biochemical reactions in the body are enhanced. And you need water for the successful flow of these reactions. During excitement, the level of adrenaline rises, which goes directly through the bloodstream to the heart, making it work faster. Water also reduces (as if dissolves) the level of adrenaline in the blood, so the heartbeat decreases. The person calms down.

Water is a source of energy

Water as a sedative is a very valuable source. After all, excitement makes the heart beat faster due to the release of adrenaline into the blood. Regular water intake will calm the nerves and maintain a balanced state during an anxious moment. If you always remember this, then you can remain cool in any stressful situation.

But what is it about water that makes us feel this way?

To be honest, it's still a mystery, says psychologist Matthew White.

There seems to be something special about the water, but we still don't know what it is.

White and his colleagues have done quite a bit of research on the connection between water and our mental state. Together with marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, they are trying to theorize that water has calming properties.

And while we don't know why water soothes us, there are some really powerful ideas that justify walking on the beach, relaxing by the lake in the summer, or even going to the pool.

Get ready to dive in and go with the flow.

1. Water makes you feel more calm and meditative.

The most important thing is to take a break from the chaos and bustle of modern life. Many people experience a whole gamut of feelings by the ocean, but many of us agree that the water, the weather, and the sounds are intertwined into a single feeling of mental calm and tranquility.

2. Water slows down your brain impulses.

3. Water awakens a sense of delight

4. Creativity takes over

5. Water can even make you feel numb... and that's a good thing

Part of the purpose of free-floating is that the water and buoyancy make you "forget where the water ends and your body begins." People who have experienced this have said they feel a weightless calm that they don't want to lose.

So, whether you decide to drift on the water or sit on the pier by the lake, remember that the calming properties of water have a positive effect on your mind, body and soul. Let us not know why water calms us, the main thing is to let it do it.