The ocean is our largest globally shared natural resource. The ocean gave us life. It provides us rain, nutrients, oxygen, livelihood, pleasure, peace of mind, and countless other benefits. Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet’s ocean—which is why it’s so crucial we protect it. The following summary is an explanation of just how interconnected we are to the ocean. Not only can’t we live without it, the ocean is good for us, like Vitamin SEA!
The Ocean provides WELL-BEING for the Body, Soul, Emotions and Mind
Hippocrates first used the word “thalassotherapy” to describe the healing effects of swimming in seawater. Among several benefits, seawater can be cleansing and healing. It can help increase your immune system function, improve circulation, hydrate your skin, and promote overall well-being.
Not only does our body’s pores absorbs properties of seawater while swimming, we inhale negatively charged ions in sea mist. We also ingest healing properties of sea salt by flavoring our food with it. Popular choices are Celtic Sea Salt and Himalayan pink salt, derived from ancient sea salt deposits in Punjab, Pakistan.
Nutrition and Immune Support
Seawater contains vital trace elements, vitamins, mineral salts, nutrients, amino acids and living microorganisms that can produce antibiotic and antibacterial effects to help promote a healthy immune system. Frequently immersing yourself in cold ocean water is also known to increase the body’s white blood cell count — immune cells important for fighting off infection.
- Case 1- Magnesium: Magnesium is the eighth most abundant mineral on earth, and the third most abundant in salty water. More importantly, it is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body. It’s necessary in over 300 reactions within the body, such as regulating muscle and nerve function, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, calcium absorption and making protein, bone, and DNA. The magnesium in seawater is known to hydrate and improve the appearance of your skin. If you are unable to jump into the sea, consider treating yourself to an Epsom Salt bath, rich in magnesium and sulfate!
- Case 2- Iodine: Iodine is an essential nutrient in the human diet. Iodine is very abundant in seafood and seaweed. In addition, when we inhale sea mist the negatively charged ions, such as iodine, in the spray attaches to your lungs and boosts your immune system. The body needs iodine to make thyroid hormones. A deficiency in iodine can greatly affect the immune system because low levels of iodine can lead to thyroid disease. Iodine therapy is also known to cure cancer patients. Consider supplementing your diet using a gourmet seaweed seasoning -rich in iodine!
Good for Muscles and Circulation
Exercise by swimming, surfing, paddling or bathing in seawater improves circulation by restoring essential minerals depleted by stress, a poor diet and environmental poisons. Studies have also found that cold water immersion may improve our sex lives by increasing the levels of testosterone and oestrogen in men and women respectively. What more incentive does one need to submerge yourself in the sea!
Good for the Skin
Sea salt is an excellent detoxifying, curing, clearing, and cleansing agent. Salt water inhibits bacterial growth and skin infections. The potassium chloride and magnesium in sea salt can cure mild acne, redness and roughness, heal cuts and ores, and clean out toxins, chemicals and oils in pores and our scalp more effectively than soap. Salt also acts as an exfoliant and anti-aging minerals. According to a study in the February 2005 edition of the “International Journal of Dermatology,” bathing in a magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution helps promote skin moisture.
Good for the Lungs
Not only does the ocean create oxygen via phytoplankton (Read More below!), ocean mist is charged with healthy negative ions that accelerate our ability to absorb oxygen. Many people travel to the ocean to take in this fresh air and leave feeling relaxed and energized. Seawater clears your nasal passage and filters out built up mucus.
Good for the Soul, Peace of Mind, and Emotions
“The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.”—Robert Wyland, ocean artist.
Seawater is used by many for overall improved health and well-being. Magnesium-rich seawater purportedly can also relax your muscles, reduce stress and help induce sleep. Magnesium depresses nerves to relieve nervous irritability for an increased sense of calmness, according to wellness pioneer and author J.I. Rondale.
Many of us “take our troubles to the water.” Whenever you are by the ocean you may feel instantly calmed by the sound of the waves. In fact, research has shown that the wave patterns in your brain are altered by the sound of ocean waves and induce a tranquil state of mind. This might also be the reason why many people choose to listen to a calming CD of ocean waves just before they go to bed. A study carried out on people living in retirement homes showed that people who listened to a relaxation CD, such as ocean waves, showed a greater drop in blood pressure than those who listened to a music CD of Mozart.
Most Importantly, OCEAN GIVES LIFE!
“The Ocean is Earth’s Life Support System.” –Dr. Sylvia Earle, Marine Biologist & Nat Geo Explorer-in-Residence.
“The ocean governs overall planetary chemistry, climate regulation, weather, oxygen production, the carbon cycle and water cycles. No matter where we live on the planet, even if you have never seen the ocean, the ocean touches all of us through rain, drinking water, the oxygen we breathe and the stable climates we thrive in.”
Provides Oxygen: Most people don’t realize how vital Phytoplankton in the ocean is to our health. Although much of the oxygen that we breathe comes from rainforests and other land based plants, scientists believe 50-85 percent of our oxygen is actually diffused into the atmosphere by the photosynthesis of marine plants, primarily microscopic phytoplankton drifting in ocean currents. They form the base of virtually every ocean food web in primary production, and they are essential for cellular respiration in all aerobic organisms, including humans.
IMAGE: Diatoms: The majority of oxygen producing phytoplankton are single-celled algae—the most common being diatoms (a yellow algae high in silica content). Other common phytoplankton include cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates (like zooanthalea, which produce beautiful colors living in animals like coral).
Regulates Carbon and Climate: In addition to producing most of the planet’s oxygen in the atmosphere, the ocean transfers heat and water around the planet, and plays a critical role in the global carbon system. The cycling of heat, water and carbon drive and control climate and weather systems. Without the ocean, surface temperatures on the planet would be dramatically hotter. The ocean absorbs tremendous amounts of heat and carbon to create balance with the atmosphere.
What is carbon cycle? To better explain the science-y topic of global carbon cycle on a geological timescale, imagine the Earth’s orbit and axis having natural astronomical cycles. When the Earth-Sun distance changes, it triggers cooling and warming phases. The ocean buffers this effect by storing and releasing carbon and heat. For example, as the planet approaches an Ice Age, most of the planet’s atmospheric carbon has been transferred and cycled through a series of carbon reservoirs to deep ocean currents–one of the largest carbon reservoirs in the Earth system, holding up to 54 times more carbon than the atmosphere. Likewise, when industrial levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere accumulate, the ocean buffers an equilibrium by absorbing excess atmospheric gases and heat into its surface layer.
Image: NOAA.gov
READ MORE: The Synergy of Our Outer and Inner Oceans in Balance