{"id":2294,"date":"2020-02-07T10:54:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T10:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2020-02-11T11:49:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T11:49:17","slug":"can-surfing-improve-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=2294","title":{"rendered":"Can surfing improve mental health?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Chris Bodell, Jennifer Brand, Archie Collins, Paul Downing, Charlie Edwards and Clare Elliott\u00a0(E119 19J Students)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

This blog was written as part of a collaborative team work task by students studying E119. They had to select a topic and then decide on what roles each person would perform in the team, such as researcher, writer, editor and leader. This blog was chosen as one of the best blogs from around 80 blogs that were produced.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So, can surfing help improve our mental health? Let\u2019s take a look and see how it turned
\nJessica Cox\u2019s\u2019 life around.<\/p>\n

Jessica Cox revealed in an interview with the BBC (2018) that she had suffered from numerous mental health issues throughout her life including anxiety, family bereavement, post- natal depression and bullying. She explains that she got in with the wrong crowd from an early age of 11, leading to drug and alcohol issues.”I would absolutely say I was at a turning point where if I had got in one more bit of trouble\u00a0at school I would have been expelled; if I had got arrested one more time I would have got taken into juvenile prison.\u201d (BBC, 2018)<\/p>\n

Jessica says the sea saved her and has turned her life around. Jessica sourced a board and
\nwetsuit and began surfing, “You feel afterwards the feelings of vibrancy and life; it is
\nunexplainable. You’re just at one with nature, and nature never judges you” (BBC, 2018).
\nJessica went on to gain qualifications to teach people to surf, spreading her love of surfing.
\n“You can feel tired of life and all the things that are going on, and you get into the water and
\nit literally washes the anxiety away… you feel this release,” (BBC 2018).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Seeing first-hand the positive effects the sea and surfing can have on the mind, mixing the
\ncalming nature of the ocean with the physiological benefits of surfing, Jessica took her
\nexperiences and knowledge and founded Sirens. Sirens offers surfing lessons and retreats to
\nwomen of all ages and abilities. They work with other charities to reach out to vulnerable
\nwomen and organise community events aimed at people suffering with mental health
\nconditions, it allows people to get involved in yoga and even learn how to surf. Sirens is a nonprofit organisation meaning that any profits made go back into the company, making them
\nable to offer their services to disadvantaged or vulnerable women and girls.<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Jessica\u2019s own journey, along with her journey helping others by
\nvisiting: https:\/\/www.inspiresirens.org\/<\/p>\n

There are many examples on how mixing the benefits of the physical activity of surfing and
\nbeing in the ocean are having positive effects on a person\u2019s mental wellbeing!
\nThe Wave Project is a community interest company that aims to change young people’s lives
\nthrough surfing, it started as a NHS funded project where 20 young people, diagnosed with a
\nrange of mental health disorders, met on the beach for a surfing lesson. After surfing
\nparticipants felt less angry, calmer and more connected with one another. One person who
\nhad been diagnosed with selective mutism even began speaking freely again! The wave
\nproject has over 900 volunteers and has joined 6 other surf therapy programmes around the
\nworld to form the International Surf Therapy Organisation (ISTO)! (Waveproject, 2020).
\nAn initiative called Blue Health analysed 35 scientific studies of how blue spaces, i.e. ocean,
\nlakes etc, benefit our health and wellbeing. They found that interaction with blue spaces has
\na positive effect on mental health, especially reducing stress.<\/p>\n

One study that blue health completed involved using technology to bring 360-degree videos
\nusing a virtual reality headset to those where natural blue spaces were inaccessible. This
\ntechnology was also able benefit elderly or disabled people or those with certain medical
\nconditions (Bluehealth, 2020).<\/p>\n

The Blue Mind Theory explains the mildly meditative state we enter when we are in, near or
\nunder water, comparative to the Red mind state which describes our state of mind while
\nsuffering from mental health problems. Scientists are evaluating the physical and
\n\u201cSiren’s aim to offer a supportive, all female environment where\u00a0you can be inspired by your own\u00a0abilities, other women, and the environment that surrounds us.\u201d (sirens, 2017).<\/p>\n

When researching the psychological effects of water, they found that being by the coast leads to an improved sense of physical health and well-being. Livni (2018) states that \u201ccontact with the water induces the meditative state that makes us happier, healthier, calmer, more creative and
\nmore capable of awe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea water is medicine will be mainstream within 10 years\u201d (Nicholls, W. 2015).<\/p>\n

Surfertoday, a surfing magazine is aimed at current and prospective surfers and promotes the
\nhealth and physiological benefits of surfing, but may well be biased. But as we can see earlier
\nin the blog, there is research and real-life evidence showing: –
\n\u201cSurfing not only improves your physical fitness, but it also clears your mind and acts as an
\nemotional stabilizer. Its Zen effect soothes the mind and balances your emotion\u2019s. Those who
\nactively engage in surfing, know that it reduces stress, boosts our mood, and even helps us
\novercome loss nor grief.\u201d (Surfertoday, 2020).<\/p>\n

For more information about how surfing can improve your mental health, visit Surfertoday\u2019s
\narticle at: https:\/\/www.surfertoday.com\/surfing\/how-surfing-improves-your-mental-health<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Chris Bodell, Jennifer Brand, Archie Collins, Paul Downing, Charlie Edwards and Clare Elliott\u00a0(E119 19J Students) This blog was written as part of a collaborative team work task by students studying E119. They had to select a topic and then decide on what roles each person would perform in the team, such as researcher, writer, editor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,139,117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e119","category-e119-student-blogs","category-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2317,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions\/2317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}