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Someone Explains Why Water Feels Peaceful, And There’s Actually A Scientific Reason Behind It

Many of us look forward to getting into a shower or a warm bath after a hard day, and not for hygienic reasons only. Having water run down our skin can be extremely soothing and relaxing, especially when we’re surrounded by delightful smells and refreshing sense of cleanliness. It’s no wonder that sometimes you can find yourself craving that sensation on a random day, or even wish to dive headfirst into a body of water. One Tumblr user, probably with the same craving, started wondering, why people have this need and how was the sense of peace so closely related to water. Well, it wouldn’t be Tumblr if people didn’t rush to explain it. Scroll down to read what they had to say and, hey, you might learn something new!

Someone on Tumblr was wondering why they have an urge to swim and have some peace, so people were quick to explain it

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And while it’s not entirely the sense of safety that our brains recall, we might really associate water with the sense of peace because of the mammalian diving reflex

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Image credits: Leah Kelley

Another user clarified what the diving reflex is and how it works

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Basically, when cool water touches our faces and we hold our breath, our heart rate goes down and blood is pulled to the center of our bodies, which creates a sense of peace

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Image credits: doublecompile

Some users even shared how this reflex is applied in practical situations

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Check out this video below to see how the mammalian diving response works

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As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

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Keuthonymos 6 years ago

Don't interpret this to mean humans have an evolved reflex for diving. We don't. The diving reflex in humans, whilst still ambiguous, is more than likely a survival response. You probably feel comforted because you are surrounded by a warm liquid, much like when you were in the womb, not because of a sensation of being stranded in the middle of a freezing cold ocean waiting to die.

14points

Magdalina777 6 years ago

There is actually a certain state of mind/body you can feel when diving(I mean free diving, no gear) :) Between the time you go down and the time you run out of oxygen there's a time(for some that's a few seconds but actually current breath-holding record is something over 20 minutes underwater, look it up; 2-3 minutes definitely isn't unusual for people into this kind of stuff, and that's quite a while) of absolute peace when you just...relax. The more you relax the longer you can stay - down there, you can feel that thoughts take oxygen too. It's an interesting experience, different from anything else really and I guess what fascinates people in free diving the most.

7points

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Up All Night 6 years ago

Did you just call that ice bucket in the video a "warm liquid"? Of course you don't, but still, humans gained their big brain by living by the ocean, eating lots of protein, almost turning into a semi-aquatic species. This also explains the hairless body and many more oddities we don't share with other primates. This diving response was very practical back then.

2points

Susann Campbell 6 years ago

I will stay in the shower and get my faced wet for a long time but I will not put my head under water because I cannot breath or hold my breath for more than seconds at a time. I have tried but panic. But I do love water all over my body and my husband has to hold me back when we get near water fountains or man made ponds. Feet first then slide in. ooops , then out again like it was an accident.

5points