The power of the sea and The Comfort Crisis

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A wonderful week away at our new home and where our new life will begin. Only another 7 weeks full time teaching before the summer holidays and then 2 days a week (where who knows at the moment). The weather was great, warm and welcoming. In fact I’ve been amazed at just how much of a difference it makes to be by the coast. We got there on Saturday and I went in the sea every day. Looking at my Whoop data above – the comparison from one week to the next is nuts. All green recoveries (the lowest this week being 70%, which was after coming back to London and sleeping here) and HRV average going from 75 to 90 – 20% bounce. I can’t quite get over just how much healthier I am sleeping by the coast, with a daily swim. It’s not so much a surprise, just astounding when you look at the numbers it gives back. Sea swimming for 10 minutes a day does tire everything – feeling your hands tired (alongside almost every muscle) from the gentle buffering you take when in the water creates a deep tiredness and calm for the body. Which in turn helps reset everything during sleep. Something for me to consider when planning classes with people

Alongside which the amount of REM and deep sleep I get is far greater than anything in London. Long may it continue when I am down there – it really does support all the anecdotal evidence of the power of coastal sea air for health benefits.

Other pictures are of a wonderful sunset, the beauty of Minnis Bay, a good potential spot for group breathwork sessions and the nasty hill by Joss Bay I used for running hill repeats on Tuesday.

Running wise the week was good, hitting times and completing sessions. Felt really strong up until today, where had a few aches and I suspect the hard session on Friday was still in my left ankle. I’m really enjoying the variety of the sessions Andrew is giving me and I can feel this will lead to faster times.

I finished reading the Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it and agree with pretty much everything in it (so would be good to have a counterpoint to some of his opinions to stop me from falling too far into my own beliefs). He writes from the perspective of America and Americans – the idea that comfort has blunted, reduced and worsened people. The idea that discomfort leads to growth and progress. He ties all this in to a 33 day hunting journey he takes in the Alasakan back country and weaving in his research around boredom, hunger, physical movement and death amongst other themes, supporting his ideas with research and interviews showing just how much we benefit from slight discomfort in our lives. My interest was piqued when he begun the book talking about his move away from drinking to sobriety and what this led to in his search for something. The concept of discomfort to grow couldn’t be more accurate for many people in the UK as well as in the States. Being in too much comfort removes the need to live, let alone respond to life in a positive manner. As incredibly adaptable creatures humans are great at adapting to what they are presented with. If you solely present comfort you adapt to comfort at the expense of living. Diet, movement, breathing, thinking, creativity all lose out to sloth, apathy and fear. Something as simple as cold water jolts you out of this place and helps your brain / body feel alive and want to function. The more content we are facing discomfort, fear and pain as valuable elements of our life the better we are able to live.