Ask HN: Do you sleep better by the ocean?

[freshthought]

I always sleep better by the ocean. My RHR drops 5-10 beats, and I wake up feeling much more relaxed. Am I alone?

What causes this effect? Is it negative ions? Clean air? Ocean sound? I’ve tried with the windows closed, and the effect holds. I’ve tried it on and off vacation, and the effect holds. So I’m really at a loss for what it could be.

[withinboredom]

If I had to guess, it’s about security. Sleeping on a boat, no one is getting on there without you knowing. Animals generally stay away from the undrinkable ocean and you can basically run into the ocean to escape from a predator. Most things don’t hunt in the rain. All these things aren’t permanent security, but they are a temporary reprieve from the day-to-day dangers for our ancestors. Maybe.

[_9omd]

Honesty, it's probably everything you listed. Also, if you were on vacation, reduced stress, sun exposure, movement, etc. would contribute too.

I looked into the negative ion thing a few years ago, and there does appear to be something to it. It seems it can have a positive impact on the lungs, which actually handle more than just breathing. Serotonin is inactivated in the lungs, so in theory negative ions could help reduce circulating serotonin, which could have a mood boosting effect. This is of course if you buy into the argument that serotonin is not so much the happy chemical but the chemical of stress [1].

https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/serotonin-depression-a...

[roudaki]

Best time of my life was living next to the coast. I would leave train one station early and just walk 30 minutes. My social anxiety gets triggered if there is any friction in my surroundings. I know I could take a buss to the beach or go to the park but having any kind of negative experience pushes me back to my gaming station. Living in small town in Alps also had similar effect as the beach. Lots of woods where you only meet other people who want quiet walk so nothing but short hello and good day. My five years living in city center seem the same even though I move 3 times because I never left the room. Esp after 20h. My job is stressful and I just dont have patience and energy to deal with other people problems constantly.

[forgotmypw17]

I sleep better outside in the open air, or at least with windows open and lots of outdoor air circulating.

[alx__]

I'm sure there probably research on it.

But my guess is that we're in a womb of water for 9 months so subconsciously are soothed by it. Personal anecdotal evidence is any time I've slept where i could hear ocean/rain/rivers I've had great sleep.

Would 100% move to Hawaii in the future

[brezelgoring]

>Would 100% move to Hawaii in the future

I wish you best of luck in chasing your dream but I feel compelled to tell you that the word is that in non-tourist areas there is some pretty heavy racism going on against non-islanders. It is based on them (you) driving up property prices and basic goods availability.

Maybe you already knew but still.

[deathanatos]

> It is based on them (you) driving up property prices and basic goods availability.

Sounds like where I am now. Near as I can tell, nobody wants my generation to settle anywhere, because we "drive up" property prices. Like we want to pay $1M for a home, or had any hand in the local zoning idiocracy.

[stavros]

You don't want to, but you do. That's the problem.

[saghm]

The problem is people having the audacity to want to choose where they live and buy a house there? It was reasonable to do that if you were born more than 35 years ago, but if not, you're just out of luck?

[stavros]

No, that's perfectly sensible. Unless you were born in a poor area, I guess, in which case fuck you, you don't get to choose where to live OR buy a house there because all the rich people from out of town are driving you out of your own city.

But that's fine, poor people shouldn't be alive anyway.

[deathanatos]

At some point, there simply isn't going to be much choice; I have a job that now requires space for a home office, and at some point, a family will require space, and it can only be delayed so long. Rent goes up year after year without so much as skipping a beat for the pandemic, and so it might, in some ways, be nice to put that into equity — even equity that might crash — rather than just continuing to enrich my local landlords.

[stavros]

There isn't choice? That makes it sound like you're forced to spend 1M on a home. There are people with families and space requirement who don't even have 10k, let alone 1M. What choice do they have?

The issue isn't that rich people buy homes in rich areas, it's that they buy homes in poor areas and poor people can no longer afford to.

[ironmagma]

Demand is a group phenomenon; anyone who participates in the act of desiring a house drives up the prices. It’s not just the buyers, and certainly not just a particular age group of buyers.

[mvc]

There's two sides to every transaction. Why blame only the buy side?

[alx__]

The folks driving up property prices are the speculators/flippers/airbnb buyers. Nothing wrong with moving into a space if you're going to live there full time.

[machinelearning]

The probability of finding prey animals is low near a beach. This is bad if you’re a predator and need to find food. However it is also good if you want to sleep because the probability of being found by a predator is low.

There are several other things that make a beach inconvenient for hunting, e.g. large open spaces which compromise stalking behaviors, sand/water slows you down, tall skinny palm trees equipped with coconuts that serve as projectiles which land predators can’t climb but primates can.

I would imagine that there’s a similar explanation related to ease of hunting that could explain why rain sounds are calming.

[sbacic]

I've never slept anywhere as well as on a boat. Even if the boat is moving, the waves are smashing against the structure and it feels like you're in a washing machine it's still the most restful sleep I've had.

[machinelearning]

The periodicity of the boat on waves is calming in a similar way to rocking on a cradle. Something about the consistency of the motion offers security. I’d guess it serves as an additional equilibrioceptive cue to the sleeping brain that’s sensitive to changes in the environment (e.g. an intruder).

[throwaway888abc]

Same here. Over time I would attribute it more to nature. If off the grid = sleep like a baby.

Ocean is also very calming.

BTW. I was trying to "replicate it" in city with various dolby atmos etc. gimmicks and headphones/etc. and without any similar results.

Mother nature

[stonecharioteer]

I used to take vacations to go home, where I'd sleep by a river throughout the day. I'd just take books, go read under a tree by the river and take a nap as well. I have to walk about 4 km to get to the river bank, so that might account for the fact that I sleep really well there. But I have never slept as well as I have under the tree by the river.

If covid has taken anything from me, it is the opportunity to go do that. The river is by an archaeological site, so it is cordoned off most of the time. I want to return to see the tree, and the river, and to sleep by it. I don't know when I'll be able to do so.

[desertraven]

I’m glad you’ve found a place special to you, and hope you can enjoy it again soon. What a pleasure.

[codingdave]

Where do you normally live?

I'm totally speculating based on my years living at high altitude, but if you also mostly reside at a higher altitude, you are acclimated to less oxygen, which could decrease your rate when you change to a location with more. If that were the reason, you could expect to see your RHR go back up to "normal" after a few weeks at sea level.

Or it could be something completely unrelated, I just didn't see this in your list of possible causes.

[fshbbdssbbgdd]

Does a speaker with a noise machine produce the same effect? Some kind of candle or other device producing an ocean scent?

[cafard]

Actually, I sleep pretty soundly in general. I prefer vacations to cities or mountains, so I haven't spent that much time near the ocean.

[GaryTang]

Negative ions — There are various studies that show their impact on physiological and psychological health.

[silisili]

I believe it's the noise of it. A rainy(but not stormy) night has the same effect on me, also.

[pvaldes]

Boats are surprisingly comfortable to sleep. The problem is when you wake up.

[Rygian]

Humidity off the right kind.

[mikewarot]

I've only been near the ocean when on vacation, so YES!

[blitzar]

I wonder if there might be some causation to this correlation.

[chestertn]

How do you measure your RHR while sleeping?

[pedalpete]

Oura and I believe Whoop provide this data.

[1123581321]

One of the cheaper Apple Watches with the HeartWatch app provides good data.