sea, it just sorts your head out. It immediately reshuffles my
priorities, little stresses or concerns just evaporate and you’re
connected with what matters, possibly because your body does
go into survival mode so you dump certain thoughts because
you don’t need them. Connecting with nature and really feeling
alive, it’s so visceral. Your skin is tingling, you feel like an animal
again. And if you can become cold water adapted and respond
well to that stress then you’ll respond better to other stresses too.
Psychologically, if you’ve jumped in the sea then you do feel
brave, and powerful.”
And as with sweating it out in team sports, the community
aspect of swimming in the sea can’t be overlooked. Anna
explains, “We wanted to make the film about this beautiful
community space, a real oasis of calm where people come
for all sorts of different reasons, whether they’re a burnt-out
banker or a new mum who needs time to herself. It offers
solace, it’s free, it’s a safe
space. Just a sort of human
watering hole for our mental
and physical wellbeing.”
And finally, does anything
compare to the physical
and mental release you feel
after a good cry? We actually
produce three kinds of tears;
basal tears that keep your
eyes lubricated, reflex tears that wash out irritations; onion
vapours, for example, and psychic tears produced in response
to emotion. Biochemist Dr. William Frey discovered that reflex
tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress
hormones. Endorphins are released and psychic tears even
contain a natural painkiller called leucine enkephalin.
While women may struggle with body image, men are the
ones who miss out more on the benefits of crying, clocking up
a much lower average number of cries per year than women.
In Japan, tear-seeking, or ‘rui-katsu’ is a new phenomenon
where adults pay to meet up in groups, watch sad films and cry
together. Participants swear by the stress-relieving benefits of
the experience. What would surely be even better though, would
be if we as a society were more ready to accept both men and
women crying anytime or anywhere they needed to. Dr Frey
had this idea back in 1982, when he told The Times, “We should
comfort people without telling them to stop crying... they do
stop crying when they’re comforted.”
So is salt water some sort of magical cure? An examination
of Dinesen’s quote seems to imply that the real benefits lie in
moving your body, spending time outdoors and connecting
with both your own emotions and your fellow humans. A
sweat, a swim and a sob may be just what the doctor ordered.self-esteem. Exercise also leads to an increase in serotonin and
norepinephrine which may reduce depression and stress.
Anna Kessel is the women’s sports editor at The Telegraph and
author of Eat, Sweat, Play. “At school everyone was obsessed
with deodorant. And it’s definitely still a problem; my seven-
year-old refused to use my Sweaty Betty gym bag the other day
because she thought ‘sweaty’ was disgusting. And that’s definitely
not something she’s picked up at home, so it’s obviously still a
problem in society and at school, even for seven year olds, who
don’t really sweat.”
While researching her book, Anna looked into the work
Michelle Obama had been doing on role modeling to encourage
physical activity. “She said that it’s important for mothers to
exercise so that their children can see how vital it is to make
that time for yourself, it’s crucial for your mental health.” But
making time for a good sweat isn’t the only obstacle we face.
“Women face barriers to accessing sports which are cultural,
historical, economic, but there’s this extra burden of body image
that is specifically and uniquely for girls; feeling like you can’t
run to work in the morning because then you’ll be a sweaty
mess. There’s been a lot of research recently into why girls are
less active and one of the
conclusions was that there
should be more hairdryers
and mirrors – saying that girls
need to be able to do their hair
and make-up after sports. But
that’s tackling a symptom of
the problem, not the cause.
Girls don’t need hairdryers,
they need society to stop
telling them they need to have their hair a certain way to go back
to their maths lesson. Wouldn’t it be nice if sport could be a
refuge, a safe space where you could just have fun and connect
with how exercise makes you feel?”
There are some times in life when a vigorous work-out might
not be what the doctor recommends. But there is a long history
of patients being sent to convalesce at the seaside because of the
health benefits of swimming in salt water. Cold water helps to
boost the white blood cell count as the body is forced to react to
changing conditions. As well as releasing endorphins, cold water
swimming is great for your circulation and contrary to popular
belief, actually increases your libido as it boosts estrogen and
testosterone production.
When writer Anna Hart moved to Margate, she fell in love
with swimming in the 80-year-old tidal pool and wrote a short
film, Taking the Waters, about the people who swim there.
“There’s something special about immersing yourself in the“There’s something special about
immersing yourself in the sea.
It immediately reshuffles my
priorities, little stresses or
concerns just evaporate.”14