by Sarah Ivens
Health guidelines recommend that men drink 3 liters of fluid per day, and women drink 2.2 liters (this can include other drinks too, but not caffeinated or alcoholic ones, which dehydrate the body), and yet a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US highlighted how up to 50 percent of the US population were not meeting this suggestion. A study by the British Journal of Nutrition says this chronic under-sipping leaves us foggy headed. Make sure you are not one of those people. Water will make you brighter, lighter with better working bowels and fewer headaches—seriously. I remember to start my day like this by leaving the right-sized glass next to the kettle, and make myself down a full glass before I treat myself to my morning coffee. Some friends drink it warm with a slice of lemon—the citrus adding a morning burst of vitamin C that can be easily absorbed into the body before it fills up with other stuff—but I prefer cold and plain. Either is better than nothing. Buy a filter so that you always have tasty, cool water on tap—add a few slices of cucumber or orange if you find the taste too dull. Even getting your liters in with water mixed with a little fruit juice is better than not drinking any.
Staying alive, staying hydrated
In the hotter summer months, drinking water regularly is crucial, especially when you’re outside, walking or exercising. Carry a water bottle with you, and keep one on your desk at work. You can also sip on mugs of herbal tea in the evening to help you unwind and keep your fluids up. Eat foods full of water such as salad, fruit and vegetables. And remember, often feelings of hunger are just feelings of thirst—drink before you eat to see if that sates your appetite. Physically, you’ll feel it if you’re dehydrated. If your lips are dry, drink. If your urine is dark yellow with a strong scent, drink.
Home hydration
Pour two cups of Epsom salts into your home tub for a relaxing soak that promises to soothe aches and pains, ease overworked muscles and rehydrate the skin. I always add a few drops of lavender essential oil to my bath to up the stress-relieving experience. Adding sea kelp powder to your soak will draw out impurities and toxins, which could help your health, too. After taking a dip in the Dead Sea a few years ago, I also occasionally treat myself to bath treatments from that region too, the goodness bottled up and shipped to my front door.
2 Exercise in it
It’s all going swimmingly. Taking the plunge will only improve your life. Swimming is the ideal way to exercise for all fitness levels and ages, because it is gentle on joints while giving your heart and lungs a great aerobic workout. The water resistance builds muscle and lowers blood pressure. You can burn the most calories doing fast crawl or butterfly stroke, but any stroke will offer a good, all round body challenge. Swimming in warm water has been proven to ease stiffness and pain, and increase flexibility by reducing the load on joints, which is specifically useful for pregnant women, the overweight or those with arthritis.
Hydrotherapy, as swimming or floating in water is known, also has a calming effect on the mind, the weightlessness of water offering a physical and mental distraction from the weight of life’s worries. The breathing patterns that you fall into during a swim regulate brain waves, which also quietens the interior chatter that leads to anxiety.
Swimming in the sea has its own name—it’s that special: thalassotherapy (a word first used by the god of all things good for us, Hippocrates, no less). Ocean water is swimming in minerals including sodium, chloride, sulphate, calcium and magnesium—all helpful healers of skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Swimming in the sea is also known to reduce the symptoms of hay fever and respiratory issues; one reason suggested for this is that the saline splashing reduces inflammation in the nose and throat. Seawater is also brimming with microorganisms that produce antibiotic and antibacterial immunity boosters in humans. So, let’s ride that wave, shall we?
Ice, ice baby
If you’re brave enough, a dip in an icy cold lake, river, natural mineral bath or ocean activates temperature receptors under the skin that release endorphins, serotonin and cortisol—so the feel-good benefits flood in (although always think of your own safety and stay away from danger). If you’re not feeling the freeze, no fear. Swimming or bathing in warm seawater increases circulation, restoring essential minerals that have been drowned out of you by stress, poor diet and other modern-living poisons.
3 Look at it
An ocean view is worth more than its weight in water!
It won’t come as a surprise to most of us that new research has indicated living near the coast has powerful, positive impacts on a person’s health. Who hasn’t spent some time staring at the ocean and fallen into a meditative state, feeling stresses and knots flowing away with the tide? There is now scientific proof showing that staring at the sea changes our brain waves and that the color blue is associated psychologically with feelings of peace and calm. All this while the rhythmic ebb and flow of the tide de-stimulates our overactive, overtired brains. This wave of oceanic love—the sights, sounds (and let’s not forget the smell) activates something called our parasympathetic nervous system, the part of us that is responsible for helping us to chill out and release the worries. So just looking at it—not even drinking or swimming in it, just sitting near to it—gives us a major health boost.
Summer Reads
Here are five dazzling books to drift off with during a sunny summer’s day on the beach:
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Lace by Shirley Conran
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
4 Breathe it
Vitamin sea—that salty, briny air we have loved to suck down in lungfuls for centuries—we might like it so much because an ocean breeze is filled with negative ions. The Journal of Alternative Complementary Medicine thinks that negative ion therapy—yes, the posh name for breathing in sea air—helps to treat the symptoms of SAD, like depression and anxiety. Ocean air is also said to thin mucus, improve lung function, reduce coughing and decrease sinus pressure in patients with lung disease, highlighting the power of the playa for us all. Sea air is so good for our health because it contains minute droplets of seawater (which, as we know, is filled with lots of good stuff) and is largely free from the harmful vapors of everyday life such as soot particles and exhaust fumes. So, even if you don’t live on the coast, try to take regular trips for a bracing walk and a few deep breaths.
Summer playlist
Get moving and grooving to these ten sun-soaking, sea-splashing tunes, perfect for this season of hot nights and bright days—and more fun:
“Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield
“Cheerleader” by OMI
“La Isla Bonita” by Madonna
“Strawberry Swing” by Coldplay
“California Gurls” by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg
“Wouldn’t it be Nice” by The Beach Boys
“Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow
“Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves
“Steal My Sunshine” by Len
“English Summer Rain” by Placebo
Andrea, 41
“You can’t beat a beach hut. They’re picture-perfect inside and out; every time I take a photo of ours it looks like it could be a postcard. Our hut is also the one place where I have no service on my phone, so I can’t check it all day long, which is such a relief in this day and age where we are on our phones 24/7. My kids get 100 percent of my attention, and if they’re napping or playing happily on their own, I may even get to read the paper or a magazine, or just sit and daydream as I listen to and look at the sea. It’s a true, rare treat.”
Beauty and the beach
It’s a shore thing. Nothing says escapism like a trip to the coast. The quiet contemplation of collecting shells and driftwood, the mindful search for crabs and coral. A summer’s day at the seaside is at once the most natural thing in the world and the most luxurious, asso
ciated with childhood holidays and good times with friends, the warm feeling of happy nostalgia it prompts in us is worth the journey alone. Surrounded by centillions of grains of sand promotes a proper sense of perspective as well. Clutch a handful and watch it slip away. There are many life lessons in that one movement: life is fleeting, life is beautiful; enjoy the simple things in life; be patient.
There are recognized physical benefits to getting sandy, too:
• In Egypt “sand baths” are a thing. People who are aching and exhausted are buried up to their necks in sand for fifteen minutes to feel the healing powers of the heavy, hot sand, which they believe will relieve the symptoms of rheumatism and joint pain, while they get a soothing head massage. Why not get your kids to give you a sand bath next time you’re at the seaside? Just remember to keep your neck, head and hands free, sticking out from the sand, above burial level.
• Sand offers a great, natural—and free—exfoliating treatment for the hands, feet and body, softening the skin and removing dead skin cells. Take a dip, then rub yourself gently with sand; now return to the sea to swim yourself clean. Or take a cup of sand home to mix with your daily body moisturiser or almond oil. Smooth sand mixed with moisturiser over your body first, then jump in the shower and rub with circular movements as water lightly rinses your skin. Rinse after a couple of minutes and feel the difference. You’re a smooth operator.
• Walking on sand works your muscles in a different way from walking on sturdy surfaces, giving you a unique stretch. Walking on the sand will also give you a free reflexology session. The shifting sand underfoot works on various pressure points, releasing toxins and tension with every sandy step.
• Running on a beach is like taking on a natural obstacle course: it tests your agility as you leap over driftwood and accelerate over the incoming tide, and it gets your heart racing in a unique way.
• Even lying on sand helps. A careful sunbathing session exposing the right amount of sun (fifteen minutes before applying sunscreen, see here) to your skin without damaging it will push the endocrine system to secrete endorphins, which—combined with the soothing surroundings—could chill you out more than a trip to an expensive spa.
• Going barefoot on the sand is great for grounding, also known as “earthing.” This practice is a way of removing excess positive electrons, which build up over time during stressful modern life, by stamping them into the ground, which has a mild negative charge to it, and thus rebalancing us to a healthy neutral state. And walking barefoot outdoors just feels nice, connecting us to the natural world with our bare skin. Going barefoot also gives us a chance to realign our posture, which gets unbalanced pounding the pavement in shoes.
How to embrace nature during a summer city break
It’s very easy to get your nature fix if you’re heading to a beach resort or to a mountain cabin for your summer vacation, but city breaks will take more planning. Before you leave, follow nature blogs in the area where you’re travelling to, or check out the location using hashtags on social media and make a note of any restaurants, coffee shops and bars that have picturesque outdoor areas to relax in. Ask friends who have been before for picnic and park ideas. Buy a guide book and see which museums, art or water parks have gardens for you to explore. See if any artificial beaches or boating lakes have sprung up in the city. Are there any neighborhood garden tours open to the public that you could meander through. You might also find outdoor yoga classes or nature mindfulness walks offered in some cities. And don’t get stuck in the city limits with the city’s limitations: take public transport (a fun experience all of its own, especially in a different region) out into the suburbs and beyond, exploring nearby vineyards, farms, parks, rivers and country retreats.
Checking out sports in the area is a good way of trying new things and getting a fun dose of the outdoors too, so check local listings when you arrive for big games and shows.
Staycation spice-up!
Even if you’re not flying off to some exotic locale this summer, you can bring excitement into your nature-loving routine by trying some new sports or pastimes. How about trying some of the following?
• A walk in that botanical garden you’ve never done to get ideas for your own green space.
• A game of tennis at the local courts with willing friends. It’s a good excuse for a refreshing Pimm’s, if ever I knew one.
• A kayak at a nearby lake or river.
• A game of volleyball—it’s what the beautiful people are doing these days.
• A game of boules, bocce or petanque. You can take your own set somewhere fun or take advantage of the trend in restaurant patios having their own flat, open space for a game.
• An outdoor movie, or you could buy or hire a projector to host your own. Don’t forget the popcorn.
• An afternoon picking strawberries at a local patch.
• New foods at the local farmers’ market.
• Set up your own ice cream parlor—complete with edible glitter and rainbow sprinkles and vintage glass bowls—as a fun feast for friends or family.
• A swing and sleep in a hammock in your yard.
• An outdoor concert—head out for a head bang with a picnic.
• A game of Lawn Twister—spray paint different-colored circles onto your back lawn and get bendy.
• A glow-in-the-dark disco in your back garden—get all eighties with luminous glow sticks, necklaces and flashing deely boppers.
• Heading outside to a nearby lawn with a blanket and a Mason jar of freshly squeezed lemonade for a firefly show.
Anna, 30
“My French neighbor sprinkles her front garden path with dried lavender buds when she is preparing for a summer party. As her guests start to arrive on warm sunlit evenings, the flowers get trodden underfoot, and the most beautiful, pungent smell fills her garden.”
Summer flowers
These blooms are abundant at this time of year and symbolic of the season, so treat your home—and yourself—to a posy if you can this summer:
Camellia
Cornflowers
Dahlias
Delphiniums
Larkspurs
Lavender
Lilies
Roses
Sweet peas
Tuberose
Until next summer
That boat trip, that barbecue, the game of baseball in the park, seaside smiles and sunset climbs, the sand dollar you hold on to as a keepsake of a summer well spent—magic memories seem to be made all the more readily during the warmest season. We are at our best, it seems, when the sun is shining and we are out and about exploring the world. Far from being maudlin or self-indulgent, looking back nostalgically on the summer just gone, or a summer from your childhood, can increase your sense of well-being. Recalling special moments with friends and family can make us feel connected to the world and raise our self-esteem, as researchers at the University of Southampton have discovered. Triggering such happy memories can ease depression and make us feel more optimistic about the future. And thinking back on good times tends to give us an attitude of gratitude, which in turn persuades us to be more kind and loving.
How can you hold on to the feelings of summer as we drift toward darker, drearier days?
• Don’t let photos die on Facebook or on your phone—print them out, or choose your twelve favorites and have them made into a calendar for the next year. Do it soon. You think you’ll remember and make reminiscing a priority during the hibernating months of winter, but you won’t. Do it while the memories are hot.
• Set your song of the summer as your ringtone or your morning alarm.
• Going forward during meditation, imagine yourself in the place you felt the most alive and content this summer: that undiscovered cove you stumbled on by accident, or the flower show you visited on a long weekend. Recall the sights, smells and sounds, and let nostalgia wash over you. Wait for the smile to creep across your face and your heart.
•
Forget about being generic and counting sheep on a restless autumn night: count the umbrellas in your mojitos or the bumble bees in your flowerbed you got to experience this summer.
• Re-read a book you enjoyed on vacation. My mum makes a point of writing where she was and when on the inside jacket of every memorable book she reads, and the real-life moments surrounding the fictional ones come flooding back whenever she opens it again.
• Buy a piece of art or a print of a place that means a great deal to you. Just looking at a beach, the mountains or a forest view you love decreases anxiety, so placing a painting somewhere you see every day will help in a multitude of ways.
• Make a scrapbook of all the tickets, passes, notes and Polaroids of the summer and keep them out as a coffee-table book to dip into in quiet, reflective moments.
MINDFULNESS MINUTE
Sit by the sea and close your eyes. Relax each muscle and soften your face to the rhythmic swirl of the waves. In. Out. In. Out. Breathe the sea air deeply and fully. Rock on your haunches slowly, mimicking the push and pull of the tide. Now open your eyes and focus on the majesty of the body of water you are sitting beside—the depth, the color, the strength, the beauty, the sparkle—and imagine letting all those qualities wash over you.
5
Fall in Love
Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love—that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
