Oh, why do we like to be beside the seaside?.
We have long taken it for granted that a lungful of sea air and getting sand between our toes is good for our wellbeing. But does being by the seaside really make a difference to health?
The Victorians clearly thought so, building beach huts and promenades at beautiful locations along the UK coastline.
But even the latest census data reveals that people living near the sea are happier than those inland.
So what's going on?
A new study at the University of Exeter is trying to find out - and if we can harness the benefits for people living miles from the sea.
What we're really interested in doing is reconnecting people with the natural environment
Dr Mathew White, Environmental Psychologist, University of Exeter Medical School
"We know that city living can really affect our mental health and wellbeing, and undermine it, but also our physical health, particularly through the release of stress hormones and exercising less," says Dr Mathew White, who is leading the project.
"What we're really interested in doing is reconnecting people with the natural environment, to try and reduce that stress."
A natural mood enhancer
The problem with studying the natural world is that it is highly complex - making teasing out the relevant factors from a seaside scene particularly tricky.
To solve this, scientists have tried to recreate specific parts of the coastal environment in the lab.
That's how volunteer Jo comes to be in a small, windowless room with only an exercise bike and a video of the beach for company.
Participants cycle for as long as they can in front of a video of the sea
She is taking part in an experiment at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, looking at the mental and physical health effects of "blue", or watery, environments.
Abi Scott from the University of Exeter Medical School is one of the project's researchers: "We want to see if we can increase someone's mood and get them exercising for longer if they're cycling in a natural environment," she told the BBC.
The current study is already building on the promising past results.
One study found that people's mood increased more when they were shown a blue environment, compared to green, urban or a blank wall.
A second study discovered that if you ask people to cycle on an exercise bike for as long as they want, those with the lowest mood and self-esteem cycled for a much shorter time than happier volunteers.
The new study combines the two - asking whether people with a low mood will feel happier (from the blue environment) and as a consequence, cycle for longer.
This will reveal whether being in a blue, seaside environment can turn people's low mood around and encourage them to be physically fitter in the process.
"The sea air and sea bathing together were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every disorder of the stomach, the lungs or the blood. They were anti-spasmodic, anti-pulmonary, anti-septic, anti-billious and anti-rheumatic. Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength."
Jane Austen,Sanditon
Letting the mind wander
Volunteer Jo is still furiously pedalling along, with the recorded sounds of crashing waves pouring out from the speakers behind her. Not many people's idea of relaxing.
But if the laboratory study turns out to show a real effect on mood and the desire to keep cycling, then the team have to ask: what is it about images of the sea accompanied by the sounds of canned waves that's making all the difference?
Dr White is investigating all possibilities, "Is it the pictures of the sea, the waves moving, the beach environment? Is it the sounds, the beautiful crashing waves, the seagulls and so on? Or is it a combination of those things together?" he says.
So far, the sound of the sea seems to be particularly evocative and influential in how people feel.
"Funnily enough when you ask people what they're listening to, it might be a recording here [in Cornwall] but they're imagining somewhere in the Seychelles, so that's maybe what's going on in the brain..
"You see and hear one thing, but you're perhaps imagining other things."
The notion of the seaside environment allowing people's minds to wander seems to be supported by early unpublished results from a brain imaging study.
"What we're finding, if anything, is a lot less activity in the brain when the sea is being shown [compared to green spaces]," says Dr White, "which tells us that it's possibly less stressful and more familiar to the core human being."
Although the seaside is by no means being touted as a cure-all for depression, the idea is that over time small incremental changes could add up to a big change, perhaps even big enough to help people living with depression.
However, Dr Mike Marriott, a clinical psychologist at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust urges caution before drawing conclusions about treating complex conditions like depression.
The Victorians clearly thought so, building beach huts and promenades at beautiful locations along the UK coastline.
But even the latest census data reveals that people living near the sea are happier than those inland.
So what's going on?
A new study at the University of Exeter is trying to find out - and if we can harness the benefits for people living miles from the sea.
What we're really interested in doing is reconnecting people with the natural environment
Dr Mathew White, Environmental Psychologist, University of Exeter Medical School
"We know that city living can really affect our mental health and wellbeing, and undermine it, but also our physical health, particularly through the release of stress hormones and exercising less," says Dr Mathew White, who is leading the project.
"What we're really interested in doing is reconnecting people with the natural environment, to try and reduce that stress."
A natural mood enhancer
The problem with studying the natural world is that it is highly complex - making teasing out the relevant factors from a seaside scene particularly tricky.
To solve this, scientists have tried to recreate specific parts of the coastal environment in the lab.
That's how volunteer Jo comes to be in a small, windowless room with only an exercise bike and a video of the beach for company.
Participants cycle for as long as they can in front of a video of the sea
She is taking part in an experiment at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, looking at the mental and physical health effects of "blue", or watery, environments.
Abi Scott from the University of Exeter Medical School is one of the project's researchers: "We want to see if we can increase someone's mood and get them exercising for longer if they're cycling in a natural environment," she told the BBC.
The current study is already building on the promising past results.
One study found that people's mood increased more when they were shown a blue environment, compared to green, urban or a blank wall.
A second study discovered that if you ask people to cycle on an exercise bike for as long as they want, those with the lowest mood and self-esteem cycled for a much shorter time than happier volunteers.
The new study combines the two - asking whether people with a low mood will feel happier (from the blue environment) and as a consequence, cycle for longer.
This will reveal whether being in a blue, seaside environment can turn people's low mood around and encourage them to be physically fitter in the process.
"The sea air and sea bathing together were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every disorder of the stomach, the lungs or the blood. They were anti-spasmodic, anti-pulmonary, anti-septic, anti-billious and anti-rheumatic. Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength."
Jane Austen,Sanditon
Letting the mind wander
Volunteer Jo is still furiously pedalling along, with the recorded sounds of crashing waves pouring out from the speakers behind her. Not many people's idea of relaxing.
But if the laboratory study turns out to show a real effect on mood and the desire to keep cycling, then the team have to ask: what is it about images of the sea accompanied by the sounds of canned waves that's making all the difference?
Dr White is investigating all possibilities, "Is it the pictures of the sea, the waves moving, the beach environment? Is it the sounds, the beautiful crashing waves, the seagulls and so on? Or is it a combination of those things together?" he says.
So far, the sound of the sea seems to be particularly evocative and influential in how people feel.
"Funnily enough when you ask people what they're listening to, it might be a recording here [in Cornwall] but they're imagining somewhere in the Seychelles, so that's maybe what's going on in the brain..
"You see and hear one thing, but you're perhaps imagining other things."
The notion of the seaside environment allowing people's minds to wander seems to be supported by early unpublished results from a brain imaging study.
"What we're finding, if anything, is a lot less activity in the brain when the sea is being shown [compared to green spaces]," says Dr White, "which tells us that it's possibly less stressful and more familiar to the core human being."
Although the seaside is by no means being touted as a cure-all for depression, the idea is that over time small incremental changes could add up to a big change, perhaps even big enough to help people living with depression.
However, Dr Mike Marriott, a clinical psychologist at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust urges caution before drawing conclusions about treating complex conditions like depression.
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