Ocean Air & Sleep: Why Salt Air Makes You Sleepy

Beach vacations are great. There is actually some scientific evidence that ocean air can help your mental state, improve you mood and even help you sleep better. Blue is a colour associated with tranquility and peace. Looking at a blue sky and blue ocean can actually help to calm down your brain. The noises of the waves rolling in and out is a type of white noise that can help to “de-stimulate” your brain and slow down our central nervous systems. Ocean air can also make you feel tired and help you sleep better. 

Sea Air Makes You Sleep Better: True or False?

The actual answer is complicated. Some articles say that there is no scientific evidence that links sea air to better sleep. That is a very black and white ways of looking at the connection between sea and salt air and your sleep. Ocean air can improve your blood O2 levels, boost your vitamin D levels and improve your breathing. All of these will improve your sleep. So, there is a definite connection between the sea, ocean and salt air, and improved sleep.

Why Does Ocean Air Make You Sleepy?

Being out by the ocean and breathing in salt air does make you sleep. And it does this for a few reasons.

1. Improved Oxygen Blood Levels

The natural components and added elements found in “fresh” outdoor air (at an ocean beach or anywhere else in nature) are so beneficial for our health - and sleep. In general, breathing fresh air replenishes your O2 levels. High levels of oxygen in the body can help your brain remain in a deeper and restorative sleep for longer.

2. Sunshine Is Good For You

If you’re out by the ocean or sea, breathing in the salt air, you’re most likely soaking up the sun. The exposure to natural sunlight can balance out your sleep system and melatonin levels. The sun suppresses this hormone. When it sets, that’s the natural signal to your brain that it’s bedtime. That’s why after spending all day outside, you can feel tired as soon as it gets dark. 

Plus vitamin D is involved in the brain pathways that actually create melatonin in the first place. And vitamin D can be absorbed directly from sunlight.

3. Healthier Respiratory System

Halotherapy is an alternative form of treatment for those with respiratory conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and smoke related symptoms. This treatment involves breathing in salty air. You’ve probably heard about “salt caves” and how they’re good for you. Imaging the ocean as the world’s giant salt-air spa treatment. While studies are ongoing as to why salt air helps with reparatory issues, it appears that the small salt particles can trigger an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy responses within a person. It doesn’t work for all lung diseases and some of the outcomes are mixed so it is still considered an alternative medicine.

However, if breathing salt air can relieve congestion, improve common coughs and improve allergy symptoms, then your sleep is sure to be improved. Coughing, pain, difficulty breathing and low oxygen levels can impact the quality of your sleep — or even make it difficult to fall asleep. Those suffering with any of these illnesses are sure to sleep better after a day by the ocean.

Negative Ions in Salt Air: How They Help You Sleep

The chemical compound of salt is largely made up of negative ions. When it is found in the mist of the air around the ocean, you breathe these irons in. Air that is high in negative ions are also found in mountains and around other bodies of moving water. 

Negative ions help our blood absorb oxygen and increase oxygen levels in our brains. It makes us feel more alert, focused and clear headed. You can feel more energized and are more likely to spend days being active and moving. Not only do more energetic days make you sleepier at night, but higher levels of oxygen are associated with deeper and more restorative sleep.

These negative ions not only increase your oxygen levels but they can also help to balance out your body’s serotonin and melatonin levels. Serotonin is vital for quality REM sleep and melatonin is the hormone that helps to regulate our sleep-wake cycle and help us fall asleep at night. 

Harnessing the Power of Salt Air

Many sleep studies are now being conducted about the different uses of negative-ion rich air and how it can be used to treat different mental and sleep disorders. Treatment plans featuring air that is high in negative ions are being developed for Seasonal Affective Disorder, allergies, air filtration systems, insomnia, depression and anxiety among many others. 

Enjoying the Salt Air Safety

With so many health benefits, it’s important to remember to be safe and protect yourself when enjoying the ocean — or even a beach day by a local lake.

1. Keep hydrated

This is one of the not-so-great reasons you feel so tired after being in the sun by the ocean all day. Being warm and sweating can make you dehydrated. Dehydration can increase your sense of fatigue or tiredness. It’s important to drink lots of water and stay hydrated.

2. Wear Sunscreen

Sun exposure can burn your skin. we all know how painful a terrible sunburn is. Make sure to load up on sunscreen and protect yourself. Not only will you thank yourself later when you’re not hot and red, but future you will thank you too. Constant exposure to the sun without protection can cause skin cancer so stay safe.

3. Rock that Beach Hat

Hats are a really easy way to protect your face, ears and neck from sunburn. Those are often the parts people forget to put sunscreen on.

Salt and Ocean Air Will Help You Sleep Better

There are so many benefits associated to salt air, sunshine and sitting by the beach that you are bound to sleep better and fall asleep quicker after a beach day. But the fact that ocean air makes you sleepy actually reminds us of something bigger: Getting outside and breathing in fresh air is so important for our health and wellbeing. And getting outside will improve your sleep, whether you’re by the ocean or not.

Filtered house air is not as fresh or full of beneficial elements compared to outside air. Even if it’s just a 15 minute walk once a day, remember to get outside and breathe deep. Even if you’re not oceanside walking in the sand, the fresh air will do you good. Your sleep will thank you.