Beach Day Boost: Why Going To The Water Can Benefit Your Health

For the study, a team of researchers gathered 59 healthy adults. For one week, participants walked in a "blue space" for 20 minutes every day (in this case, it was a Barcelona beach). Then, for another week, they spent 20 minutes walking in a city every day. For the last week, those 20 minutes were spent resting indoors.

This contributes to the growing body of research supporting the fact that time in nature is really important to overall health, with previous studies showing that connecting with the outdoors can reduce anxiousness and stress and even help prevent premature death.

And while you may not need science to justify your love for the beach, studies like this can help incentivize policy. The more clear the health benefits of blue space, the more inclined policymakers will be to implement programs that make it accessible to the masses—especially those who live in urban areas.

"According to the United Nations," Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, a researcher in the study, says, "55% of the global population now lives in cities. It is crucial to identify and enhance elements that improve our health—such as blue spaces—so that we can create healthier, more sustainable, and more livable cities."