Reading The Washington Post this week (yeah, I know, Jeff Bezos), I took note of a science article about the benefit of “blue” places, like oceans, bays, ponds, and rivers. I put blue in quotation marks because obviously much of the time water is not any pure color. Rather it can be many at once: grays, greens, browns. The point was that research is starting to really indicate that saltwater and freshwater spaces can be good for the body, mind, and communities.
I’ve been thinking lately, too, about the singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, whose 1973 “The Swimming Song” is stuck in my head. The lyrics are simple, catchy — “This summer I went swimming / This summer I might have drowned” — but, for me, they make a point about the exuberance of water and how good it can make us feel.
Loudon, who I’ve gotten to know a little recently, is a dedicated swimmer, starting early in the season in a Shelter Island pond and keeping at it late into the fall. My record this year has not been nearly as good. In fact, I took my first and only proper swim in the ocean just last week.
One of the more mind-blowing studies mentioned in The Post piece looked at the tendency of people to work out longer when in or near the water, as opposed to in “green” and urban places. The hypothesis was that we perceive time differently when we are at the beach or by a river.
Floating around in the ocean the other day, I noticed the calming effect of it all. There seemed an invitation to cast a hypnotic gaze on the movement and light. Diving under waves, I felt forces much bigger than myself. Surfacing, I saw terns going up and down the shore looking for food. There were boats on the horizon, about three miles out, only their masts and superstructures visible past the curve of the Earth.
To what the scientists are exploring, I would add the fact that at the beach, one’s visual periphery is filled with much the same sights as straight ahead. There seems less of a chance that something with ill intent is about to pounce from the side. The sea gives us a sense of openness that reaches the heart as well.