Life
“Blue Mind”: Why You Need To Be Near Water To Be Happy
Wallace J Nichol's book, Blue Mind, may be one of the best books I’ve read this year. It was recommended by Laird Hamilton, famous for being a surfer and now the in-water workouts. This book is packed with scientific offerings and data-driven tidbits that adamantly stress that we must be around and live by the water.
Blue Mind is essentially this; Realizing that not only water is essential for survival, but it provides everything needed for happiness and finding purpose. Let’s take a look:
Environment:
Anthropologically, we are naturally attracted to being around the coast for various reasons.
- Traditionally, water-based predators cannot come onto land, and land-based predators cannot go into the water, so as a human we are in a great place to evade threats. (Unless there’s a shark and a sabretooth tiger waiting for you at the same time, then you’re probably fucked or need to find a tree)
- Oxygen: Being near the water does not just provide obvious resources for nutrition (water, plants, food), but organisms in the water emit a surplus of oxygen. Ever wonder why you feel so good near the water, you’re practically getting high on all the oxygen in the air!
- Perhaps we are not designed to swim underwater for long periods of time, but we are meant to be in it. Our body is 78% water, another 15% is fat on average, and our lungs are full of air. A 200 lb man weighs about 10 pounds in the water for this reason. We are specifically engineered to wade and float.
Advertising:
The most successful advertising involves water or the color blue. Statistically, our favorite color on average is blue and advertisers cash in on this. Water is the ideal sensory experience as we are naturally hooked to seeing, feeling, and hearing water because it…
