The benefits of beach time on Anglesey

Spring time days on the Island of Anglesey can be surreal if the weather goes our way. For the past few years we have had periods of really settled and beautiful weather here with glass calm days on the water followed coupled with blue cloudless, sunny skies and warm temperatures. It’s a reminder that the darker days are behind us from the cold and wet winter months here on Anglesey.

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Spring time on Anglesey. A Devine time of year when the weather plays ball.

It’s important to take time out in nature and connect during these sometimes brief weather windows, and take advantage of nature and have some time in the sun. Our bodies have been almost starved of vitamin D during the darker months. With many of our followers (including myself) working in offices all around the country in poor lighting during the hours of daylight, it’s no wonder we feel tiered and exhausted after the long winter.

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Rhosneigr beach looking back to Holy Island.

So it’s important tot get out in the sun, top off and get the suns rays onto your skin and eyes during warm periods of weather. It’s no accident that the sun powers everything on our planet from plants to the weather systems that we experience.

Vitamin D is created by our body using the suns rays and is absorbed through an oil on our skin, when we expose ourselves to it. Vitamin D is therefore oil soluble and needs to me transferred into the body through (created by our bodies using fats) through our skin. So our infinite intelligent bodies create this oil for the purposes of absorption.

So this means lathering toxic sunscreen full of parabens, aluminium, titanium and other petroleum products, which create havoc in our bodies (mainly in our liver) isn’t always a great idea,  because we disturb the process of absorption of Vitamin D on our skins.  Anyhow lecture over, so sitting in the sun after a long period of time without vitamin D will top up our levels and increase this very very important vitamin which helps regulate hormones in our body.
 
Anglesey has some of the most breath taking beaches that you can take an hour of your day to just lye at in the sun with the kids and have a recharge of the solar batteries. Just yesterday I took a half day away from the work and made sure that I got some sun for an hour on the beach. This is now an important ritual for me and I will adhere to this throughout the spring and summer months. It doesn’t have to be a beach it can be a park or garden or wherever.

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A little cove in Porth Daffarch that I go to..

So whilst at the beach it’s shoes off and toes in the sand. There is such amazing science now coming out to show that when we are connected to the earth (barefoot) we experience a great healthy flow of negative ions and electrons moving into our body which reduces inflammation, blood coagulation and overall tension in our bodies.

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Get your toes into the sand and connect!

This forms the part of my other routine in the spring time. Barefoot time or earthing as it’s called. This isn’t something new, it’s only in the past 50-100 years we have started using plastics on the soles of our feet (which act as insulators to the earths healing field). This actually disconnects us from these negative ions which help reduce inflation in our bodies. So take home point number two is to take some barefoot time at the beach.. I mean why would you not want to do it?!

You actually don’t have to do anything other than lie sleep and let your feet connect to the sand. Anglesey sand is uniquely special in this scenario, as even though most sands are made of silica. The sands that are created along our shores and coasts have a large proportion of quartzite in them which is what the rocks are made from in certain parts of the Island. Quartzite is quite special in that it is a very good conductor of electricity, which means you get a way better connection to the land or grounding, with these elements in our sands. Sound a bit woo woo?! Good !

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Stunning beaches await you on Anglesey.. Broad beach at Rhosneigr

Ok the the last little health tip this spring whilst visiting the beach, is to cold dip. Yes,yes yes, I can feel all of you scowling at me in the future as you read this, but you will see incredible benefits in time from doing this. What do I mean by cold dipping? Well going into the water with shorts of swimming costume, full immersion and holding until your body acclimatises to the waters temperature. I know its not warm and it may give you shivers merely at the thought of it, but it has incredible side effects and health benefits.

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Winter time swims may not be inspiring, but .. the benefits are simply amazing!

When you get into cold water it create a little stress in our vascular system, which means our blood flows back into our organs, to keep the body warm and prevent heat loss through the outer blood vessels and arteries. So when we get out of the water, the blood will flow back to the extremities flushing out with it the toxins. Cold exposure also creates good brown fat in our bodies with keeps our organs war and healthy. It helps reduce inflammation in our bodies and grounds us in the same principle as earthing above.

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Cold water immersion makes for amazing start to the day.

Now I know 90% of you are not going to want to get in the water and are recoiling at my every word, just hear me out. Six months ago I was that same person, I would not get I the water for love nor money, but there has been a change. So I cold dipped at my local beach for 14 days, in a row, and something changed in me.  Not only where my hormones way more balanced, you can see this in your moods, cravings, appetite and general drive. But I experienced a small amount of euphoria or dopamine every time I did it. Slowly I became slightly addicted to this, and it brings to me a very very nice feeling now each time I do it. All day long I feel balanced and I know that I’m doing a great service to my body.
I think the sport, if we can call it that, is being popularised right now and more and more people are turning to to cure any things in their lives, rather than taking pills or medications. One of the main things I have noticed, is that I don’t feel cold anymore at all, really, I love the open fire as much as the next person, however I don’t need it! More over I don’t get ill with colds and flu, and if I do my body bounces back at a very fast rate.

Cold water has a dramatic way of strengthening the immune system in a dramatic way. You won’t know it straight away, but you’ll look back a year later, you’ll notice you have had no down time with illness and your feeling way more vital.

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Chilly seasons and the art of cold water immersion!

After you get out of the water, you experience a bit of a rush as you get out, typically I start giggling and laughing for some reason?! I am a little weird anyhow, but this is slightly unusual for me even. The biggest thing its good for is low moods, which can In turn be attributed to lack of Vitamin D and other micro nutrients, vitamins and minerals we are deficient in over the hunger gap months.

So there you have it three ways to get healthy on the beach this spring just by being being there! How easy is that? and you can mix these things into your beach time even with children and busy lives. You can get the kinds involved too, get them to do the same and let them get the health benefits without even knowing it!

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Devine sunsets on the Island. I can spend so many hours here relaxing and thinking!

If you want to go a step further you could have a stretch and do some yoga whilst your there too, if I do this I like to do a set of simple stretches that open up my hips and pelvis, where I get tight from running all the time. I like to concentrate on these areas as they give me the most relief in tension. But more on yoga again..

So whilst on the beach you can also look for some Anglesey beach glass and driftwood  and maybe pick up some plastics if you see any. Don’t forget your beach tax we are relying on each an everyone of you to do give a little back to our environment each time.

My personal favourite beaches are very small steep coves Porth daffarch area on Holy Island has by far the most amazing concentration of small dinky and lovely coves with patches of sand and pebbles that are quite delicious when the weather is just right.
Take a walk around the Anglesey Coastal path and see them for yourself, mark them off on a map and revisit them at your convenience. Honestly I can’t tell you how amazing they are. Just a couple of hours there yesterday and I felt alive again. Take a book or a picnic of just enjoy the scenery.  What ever you do in north Wales on your stay, have a great time. Nick.
 


 
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Front cover image by : north Wales holiday cottages.
 
 
 
 

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