We're guessing that beachside holiday you've been thinking about is sounding pretty appealing right now considering the wild weather Australia has been experiencing lately, and it's about to sound even better with new scientific research showing that an oceanside escape could seriously improve your mental health.
The study, conducted by Michigan State University, revealed that living in a location where you have the chance to see a lot of blue spaces, like a body of water, leads to lower levels of “psychological distress.”
The research focused on the city of Wellington in New Zealand and looked at the correlation between whether or not people could see the ocean, and the country's health records. Of course they also took into account other factors like age, sex and wealth but still found that living by the sea improved people's mental health.
Apparently, it's all because the brain can process natural backdrops better. “[That] reduces sensory stimuli and promotes mental relaxation,” the study's co-author Amber Pearson told Lonely Planet. “Surely mental relaxation is part of the purpose of travel and holidays.”
Before you start holding a shell to your ear in hopes of enlightenment, Pearson acknowledged that more research needs to be done to see if other senses come into play (like hearing the sound of waves) when it comes to the healing effects of living seaside.
[via Travel + Leisure]
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