Sit by the sea for half an hour and something shifts: your shoulders drop, your thoughts slow down and the day feels lighter. Scientists now have a name for the places that do this, "blue spaces", meaning coasts, rivers, lakes and other outdoor water, and a growing body of research on how time near them affects mood and wellbeing.

Woman sitting beside the water and looking across a waterside view

What a 20-minute walk by the water did

One of the clearest experiments was a randomised crossover study published in 2020 by Cristina Vert and colleagues. They recruited 59 healthy adult office workers and, over three weeks, had each of them take repeated 20-minute walks in a blue space, take similar walks along an urban street, and rest at a control site.

The crossover design is the strength of the study: every participant experienced every condition, so the comparison is within the same people. Right after the walks by the water, participants reported better mood and greater wellbeing than after the city walks or the rest periods. The researchers also measured cardiovascular markers and found no matching improvement there, which suggests the benefit is mainly psychological and works quickly.

Living near the coast and health

Much of the large-scale work on blue spaces comes from the University of Exeter's European Centre for Environment and Human Health in England. In a 2012 study in Health & Place, "Does living by the coast improve health and wellbeing?", Benedict Wheeler, Mathew White and colleagues used small-area census data for England and found that good health is more common the closer people live to the coast, with signs that the effect is larger in more deprived communities.

A 2019 follow-up led by Jo Garrett analysed nearly 26,000 respondents to the Health Survey for England. Comparing people living less than 1 km from the coast with those more than 50 km away, it found the clearest mental-health benefit among the lowest-earning households in large towns and cities by the sea.

These population studies compare large groups of people, so they reveal patterns linked to where people live and how they spend their time. Experiments like the walking study then test what happens in the hours after a visit.

Childhood by the water and adult wellbeing

In 2022 an international team led by Valeria Vitale of Sapienza University of Rome analysed the BlueHealth International Survey, coordinated by the University of Exeter. More than 15,000 people in 18 countries and regions, 14 in Europe plus Hong Kong, Canada, Australia and California, recalled how much time they had spent at coasts, rivers and lakes between birth and age 16.

Adults with better mental health were more likely to recall childhood time near water, and the link appeared in every country studied. People with more childhood blue-space experience also valued nature more and visited it more often as adults, and both habits were associated with better wellbeing. As Vitale put it, building familiarity and confidence around water in childhood "may stimulate an inherent joy of nature." The team notes that long-term studies following people through their lives are the next step.

How to get more from a waterside visit

The research points to simple habits:

  • Keep it short and regular. The walking study used 20-minute visits; a stroll by a river, lake or harbour near home counts as blue space.
  • Walk or sit, whichever you enjoy. A promenade walk, a bench with a sea view and a quiet lakeshore all qualify. You do not need to swim.
  • Bring the children. Early, confident experiences around water were linked to adult wellbeing in the 18-country study. Supervise them closely, because water settings carry real risks for children.
  • Notice what works for you. Try a different time of day, route or companion on the next visit and keep what you liked.

Waterside time works well as part of a wider day out. Our Santorini guide pairs the caldera views with villages and cultural sites, and our Myrtos Beach guide covers one of the most photographed coastlines in Hellas, on Kefalonia.

If forest trails appeal to you more than the coast, read our guide to nature walks and mood research. For lakes, sea cliffs and small towns in one trip, start with our Azores planning guide.

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