Marine Areas and the Mind
Sophie McDonald
Whether you’re playing a sport, going for a stroll, spotting wildlife or simply watching the waves roll onto the shore, spending time by the sea can make an measurable improvement on your mental health and wellbeing.
Defra’s recent study demonstrates that the coast can play a significant role as a therapeutic and restorative landscape for boosting human wellbeing and mental health. Having a home near the coast is incredibly beneficial for the mind, with positive links between mental health and neighbourhood exposure to coastal areas. There are significantly lower levels of mental distress in people living within 5km of the coast than those living over 5km away. However, if you don’t live near the coast, don’t panic! You can still absorb the therapeutic effects of the sea by going for a visit to your nearest coastal area.
British people visiting marine and coastal environments report experiencing increased levels of happiness. The power of blue spaces cannot be underestimated, people are happiest when spending time marine and coastal margins compared to any other kind of natural environment in the UK. If you compare coastal visits with trips to any other kind of environment, British people report increased happiness as well as better general health and being more physically active. In England alone, 271 million recreational visits are made to coastal environments every single year. That’s a lot of sea salt therapy!
Spending time near blue spaces boosts happiness! Photo: Unsplash
UK mental health crisis
The findings of this study are of immense importance when applied to the context of the widespread mental health crisis the UK is currently experiencing . Mental health charity, Mind reports that between the years 2000 and 2014 reports of self-harm more than doubled and overall reported suicide numbers have risen in England and Wales since 2018, with an especially clear increase in men and people under 25.
This is combined with poor access to mental health care in the UK, as in January this year NHS waiting times for psychological therapy were reported to range from 4 to an agonising 61 days across England. Since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, mental health difficulties have dramatically risen and the need to understand and apply effective ways of improving mental health and wellbeing is overwhelmingly urgent.
Although it is concerning to see that mental health issues are on the rise, there is hope in the fact that attitudes to mental health are quantifiably changing for the better. This is facilitating increasingly open discussions about the realities of mental illness which should encourage governing bodies and organisations to develop more imaginative strategies about how we can minimise people’s suffering. Investing in the protection of marine and coastal areas and improving their accessibility could translate to not only lives improved but lives saved.
With the UK experiencing a mental health crisis, can the ocean provide a solution? Photo: Unsplash
Who can benefit most?
On average, one in six adults in England suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, with far more prevalence in people from lower income backgrounds. In the effort to transform this statistic, it is incredibly helpful to understand the efficacy of novel interventions including access to blue spaces.
A University of Exeter study demonstrated that the mental health benefits from being near the coast are especially great for those in the lowest earning households. As Dr Mathew White, environmental psychologist at the University of Exeter said: “We need to help policy makers understand how to maximise the wellbeing benefits of ‘blue’ spaces in towns and cities and ensure that access is fair and inclusive for everyone, while not damaging our fragile coastal environments.”
Further research is absolutely necessary into the effects of marine environments on varying economic, social and cultural groups that might benefit from nature-based interventions, as well as the life-stage at which intervention is most effective. The more extensively we research, the more we paint a full landscape of knowledge around the relationship between marine areas and the mind.
Studies show positive links between mental health and living near the coast. Photo: Unsplash
A Call to Protect Marine and Coastal Areas
Research into the mental health benefits from the sea are essential in the effort to convince governments to improve protections around blue spaces and encourage their use. The Defra report highlights the hugely important role of marine conservation work in preserving and restoring marine and coastal areas in order to maintain these benefits.
The report shows that areas with designated or protected status and those with higher levels of biodiversity were associated with better mental wellbeing than those without. This is fantastic news for bringing marine conservation higher up on the UK parliament’s agenda and securing a future for our coasts, particularly in the face of growing threats including marine pollution, coastal development and climate change.
Currently, the UK ‘Blue Belt’ includes 355 marine protected areas around the British coastline, covering an area eight times the size of Greater London. Conservationists have confirmed that these zones have begun to make a positive impact, bringing a halt to damaging activities such as scallop dredging. However creating these protected areas is only the first step - they are poorly monitored and require better management in order to allow wildlife to recover.
There are myriad reasons for us to protect our marine and coastal areas and the Defra report makes it blindingly clear that when our blue spaces thrive, we all do. It has never been clearer that we must focus our efforts on safeguarding these precious habitats for our own wellbeing and that of future generations.
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