Blue Mind: Does the Ocean Impact Our Brains Neurologically?

Have you ever noticed that catching a whiff of the ocean makes you feel differently? Wallace J. Nichols, a research assistant at the California Academy of Sciences and co-founder of Ocean Revolution, calls this reaction “Blue Mind.” He says, “When we think of the ocean — or hear the ocean, or see the ocean, or get in the ocean, even taste and smell the ocean, or all of those things at once — we feel something different than before that happened. For most people, it's generally good. It often makes us more open or contemplative. For many people, it reduces stress. And that's "Blue Mind."

So what’s Blue Mind got to do with anything? Nichols thinks it’s got a lot to do with how humans interact with the sea. OnEarth’s Jeff Greenwald learned more in a recent interview with Nichols.