Water is Vital for Life: Connections of Human Body and Mind with Water

Earth is a bright, blue ‘marble’ unlike anything else in our known universe. Seemingly fragile from a distance, this planet is teeming with biodiversity and life. It’s a bit astonishing, to think of how all the right circumstances happened serendipitously for our planet to support life (as we know it). Earth’s distance from the sun keeps the planet at a habitable temperature, neither too hot, nor too cold. The unique formation of the ozone layer protects us from our star’s harmful rays and makes possible the presence of the single substance most scientists agree is necessary for life - water. Composed through the bonding of two hydrogen atoms and a single atom of oxygen, this chemical formation is currently the basis for NASA as they search for alien life - “follow the water”. Philip Ball describes this element as “essential for the kind of delicate chemistry that makes life possible”. The presence of water is the main reason why we are able to exist on planet Earth.

While seventy-one percent of our planet is water, over ninety-six percent of that water is saline, and less than four percent of that is fresh water. Rivers only constitute for 0.0002 percent of the total water on Earth, for most people, are their main source of usable water. In Allegheny County, ninety percent of residents rely on the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers for drinking water. Rivers are givers of life, consistently called the ‘lifeblood’ of the community.

A river’s tributaries, much like our own veins carrying vital nutrients, stretches across the land allowing a single drop of water to fall on land and then be carried to the oceans. Rivers are constantly changing, ever evolving and molding the land to fit its needs. Water levels rise and fall, changing the river’s path, and even altering the direction from which it flows. The sheer force that rivers exude has the ability to deflate one’s own ego. This valuable ecosystem not only provides drinking water but also habitats both in it and along its edges, transportation, opportunities for recreation, a source for food and economic viability.

Humankind’s bond with water begins at our very inception. As an egg, surrounded in a nutrient-rich, saline liquid, we grow for nine months in our mother’s womb. Protected, and nourished by the warm water, we are swayed by the muffled voices and oceanic-like sounds that enclose us. This bond between humans and water is significant and can be used as a resource by designers to improve our health and everyday lives.

We must not ignore waters ability to heal the body. Exposure to nature (‘green space’) is well known to have numerous benefits on everything from productivity to recovery time after surgery. However, exposure to ‘blue’ space (areas in and around water) has the potential for even greater restoration. Access to water can also provide a form of therapy to treat trauma or autism, give communities a sense of togetherness and unity and even encourages physical activity (Wallace, 2014). Despite the known benefits of exposure to nature, the EPA estimates that Americans spend roughly 93% of our time indoors. In many urban settings, such as the Manchester neighborhood, access to the river can be extremely limited. This shortage of access to the water inhibits the ability for one to achieve the many benefits that can be obtained from this astounding, and irreplaceable resource.

“If you take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.” - Tibetan saying

Happiness is contagious. While we have evolved to react more intensely to negative experiences than positive ones to ensure our own survival, we have the ability to rewire our brain to have more positive thoughts and feelings, and therefore greater levels of happiness. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist and author, describes in his TED talk ‘Hardwiring Happiness’, how to increase positivity and happiness. The first step is to focus on positive experiences and thoughts that we have. By keeping these in our mind for and focusing on them for a longer period, negative thoughts and feelings will resist easily creeping back in the positive ones will stick around and last for a greater period of time. It’s not just changing your mind, it’s rewiring the actual way your brain works; “The mind can change the brain to change the mind”. In order to be successful at this, he has developed an acronym to help one learn the process: ‘HEAL yourself’. The first step is to ‘Have a positive experience’, after that, ‘Enrich it’ by locking this experience in your brain, and then truly ‘Absorb it’. The last step, ‘Link the positive and negative’ is optional since it requires you to link a positive experience with a negative one and is considered risky can stir-up negative feelings and emotions.

Mappiness, a 2011 study first conducted by George MacKerron and Susana Mourato in the United Kingdom, used an app to track the levels of happiness by sending out randomized signals throughout the day that prompted users to respond. Over 1.1 million responses were then cross-referenced with GPS locations and known activities of the users to rate different places based upon responses. The study found that people are happiest when in nature, but even higher rates of happiness were reported when the person is near a body of water. In marine and coastal regions there is an increase of 5.2% reported, a percentage equivalent to the difference between ‘attending an exhibition and doing housework’. ‘Mappiness 2.0’, will be an on-going study developed by Dr. George MacKerron and Nick Begley and will continue the research while also providing feedback for users to understand how their own happiness is affected by different situations, sleep, eating patterns, etc. Mappiness 2.0 will be launching in July 2018 and conducted as a worldwide study.

Although this evidence supports claims of benefits, water alone does not guarantee a setting that is preferred over another, how the water and water’s edge are treated largely impact the perception of these spaces. A clean, flowing river with a natural edge and vegetation is how people tend to prefer their rivers. Pollution (or the perception of), in the form of sewage, chemical, smell, etc. and other signs of human impact decreases the likelihood of a positive experience and therefore, also decreases the amount of recreational use in and along the river. Plants, although beneficial, can with little or no maintenance also have a negative effect on the benefits, perception and actual safety of the space. River-banks that have eroded away also decrease the quality of the perception and therefore the positive benefits. Another way the perception can be altered is due to a possible traumatic personal experience or negative feelings towards the water. A flood or river that has overflowed its banks can result in destruction, and in worse case death, is easily associated with negative feelings or perception.

Humankind has sought for centuries to tear away nature believing that this lead to civilization and the act of being, well, ‘civilized’. “Because so many children and adults spend their days in completely man-made environments, they develop aversions and even fears about what they view as dirty, untamed, and dangerous natural environments”. In fact, forty-nine percent of adults do not get the recommendation People are now being diagnosed as having nature-deficit disorder as a result of not being engaged with natural environments. One solution is ‘Park Prescriptions’ a concept developed by Park Rx America, “a non-profit organization whose mission is to decrease the burden of chronic disease, increase health and happiness, and foster environmental stewardship, by virtue of prescribing Nature during the routine delivery of health care”. Park Rx America partners with managers of accessible, public land and water along with physicians and other healthcare providers to prescribe patients time outdoors and in nature.