Many of us have lost the habit of engaging in recreational sporting activities. Both during and for a long while after the Covid lockdowns, I myself had been in a mental space where, despite being happy and my work being office-based, I would return home feeling physically exhausted, and would use my weekends to socialise and to recoup what I thought was my “energy” for the next week. Time to be active was crowded out by a perceived need for rest and diversion after a stressful week.
Of course, what we think we need and what our bodies really need are substantially different. We find it very hard to distinguish between mental stress and physical exertion – so it’s very easy to build the habit of responding to stress with inactivity.
Stress hormones like cortisol build up in our bloodstream throughout the working day, but can be neutralised by the release of endorphins which takes place when we exercise. In reality, one of the worst things we can do when chronically stressed and overburdened emotionally is to remain sedentary and inactive (and to compromise sleep quality with bright screens in the evening). It sounds obvious, but for those dealing with stress and anxiety every day, this is a deeply counterintuitive fact. It takes significant willpower to change any habit, but to change a habit at precisely those moments of the week when we are most exhausted is nigh impossible without help.
For many, the most obvious first steps will be to get involved in group sports or establish “gym buddy” relationships. We make commitments to other people to help us break free from bad habits. For me, I believe in the restorative power of scuba diving. Ironically, diving can feel like a deep breath in a world that often feels like it’s running out of air.
I remember my first dive like it was yesterday. The initial surge of cold water against my skin, the muffled underwater silence, and the weightlessness that made me feel as though I’d stepped into another world.
I recall an older school friend of mine, who we’ll call Lily. Although she had developed a very successful city career at breakneck speed, Lily struggled with crippling anxiety. The mounting pressures from work, combined with her personal life challenges, left her constantly on edge. She approached diving with trepidation, lacking confidence. She would probably admit that I had pushed her into it. But as she descended for the first time in the sea, she said it felt like entering a meditative state. The water enveloped her, the rhythmic sound of her breathing became a calming metronome, and slowly, the weight of her worries began to dissipate. It’s an experience that perhaps everyone who’s been diving can relate to, to one degree or another.
There’s an intrinsic focus required in scuba diving. You must pay attention to your breathing, the signals of your dive buddy, your surroundings and your own body’s responses. This necessity for focus, for many divers, becomes a form of mindfulness – a form of active meditation.
Scuba diving inherently integrates everything that is needed for successful practice of CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. You regulate your breathing, with slower, deeper breaths encouraged to ensure your oxygen supply lasts and you can stay underwater for longer. Without the ability to talk, and with many physical sensations like bubbles, water currents and the taste of salt on your regulator, to visual stimuli such as beautiful corals and fish, anxious minds are able to properly abandon worries and to focus on the experience itself. Not to mention the stress-busting properties of the exercise itself.
Being truly “in the moment” is a skill that, once honed underwater, can be applied in our daily lives. It’s no wonder that so many find relief from stress, anxiety, and even symptoms of PTSD through diving. That’s not all. It’s also fundamentally a sport that requires partnership and trust through every stage of the dive.
It is not surprising that doctors don’t specifically recommend diving to those presenting with anxiety. After all, it can be dangerous if liberties are taken and if people bring a cavalier attitude to the sport. Doctors normally only recommend risk-free activities, such as going for a walk while chewing gum, which has also been shown to promote the practice of CBT, with sensations of taste and the action of chewing replacing the stimuli of underwater diving. But with the right guidance, diving is safe and more profound in its effects on mental health than any other sport or activity could hope to be.
To break through my own Covid-era lethargy, rediscovering diving gave me, and many of my closest friends, an opportunity to connect with ourselves. I encourage you, dear readers, should you find yourself stressed and chronically tired, to find your scuba diving. You will not regret it.
Robert Armstrong is Director of the Institute for Free Trade and a mental health advocate
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