Why the Sea Makes Us Feel Different

My family has been returning to the Norfolk coast for three generations. It is where we launched YCODE in the UK, and where I celebrated my fortieth birthday this summer, on Scolt Head Island. The sea has become the setting for some of the moments that matter most to me.

I have been thinking about why that is. There is something about being beside the water that changes the scale of things. You can arrive with a head full of work, decisions and unfinished conversations, then find yourself watching the tide for longer than you intended. For a while, your attention belongs somewhere else.

Some of that is personal, of course. Places accumulate meaning. But I became interested in how much of the feeling we associate with the sea has been studied, and what else might be happening beyond the experience we can easily describe.

In 2020, researchers led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health studied 59 adults who spent twenty minutes walking beside the sea, walking through city streets or resting indoors. Participants reported greater improvements in mood and wellbeing immediately after the seaside walks than after either of the other activities.¹

The researchers’ conclusion was straightforward: “Short walks in blue spaces can benefit both well-being and mood.”

The study did not establish exactly which part of the experience made the difference. That leaves room for questions about the view, the sound, the surroundings and the simple pleasure of being outside somewhere beautiful. But I find it reassuring that something so familiar can also be observed in research.

Then there is the water itself.

We tend to think of seawater as salt water, which is a surprisingly modest description of something with such a complex composition. Its minerals have attracted scientific interest in their own right, including research into how particular salt solutions interact with skin.

In a study led by dermatologist Ehrhardt Proksch at the University of Kiel, volunteers with atopic dry skin immersed one forearm in a magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution and the other in tap water. The salt-treated skin showed improved hydration and reduced roughness and redness. Among participants whose skin barrier was impaired at the outset, barrier function improved too.²

This was a specific preparation, tested under particular conditions. It does not mean that every swim will have the same effect. What interests me is the detail: the composition of the water can matter, and researchers can investigate which components contribute to an effect.

Perhaps the most surprising discovery, though, concerns what the sea carries into the air.

Sea spray contains biological material as well as salt. In a study published in 2025, researchers examined samples collected over a year on the Belgian coast, testing their effects on human bronchial cells grown in the laboratory. They observed changes in gene activity associated with inflammation, cell growth and metabolism. Those responses varied with the samples and correlated with the amount of phytoplankton in the water.³

Some of the pathways involved are also relevant to cancer research, which helps explain the attention this field attracts. The distinction matters: these were laboratory experiments on cells, not evidence that breathing sea air prevents or treats cancer.

Even with that distinction, there is plenty to be curious about. The researchers suggested that compounds originating from marine algae may contribute to the activity they observed. Something happening in the microscopic life of the water could be relevant to what is carried in the spray above it.

I find that extraordinary. Standing on a beach, we see the surface, the movement and the horizon. Beneath that familiar view is a biological world whose interactions we are still working to understand.

These different strands of research explore different things: an experience, a mineral preparation, a mixture of airborne compounds. Together, they have deepened my interest in a place I already cared about. They make me want to look more closely.

That curiosity was the starting point for From Sea to Cell™. My relationship with the sea gave me a reason to begin exploring; learning about its biological resources gave me a reason to keep going. Eventually, that exploration led us into the world of algae and the possibilities it offered for skincare.

We wanted to turn what we learned into something useful in men’s everyday lives. Something that could sit beside the sink and become part of looking after yourself, morning and evening. The sea was where that journey began.

Next: A World Within a Drop, exploring the tiny organisms that opened up a much bigger world for us.

Written by

Freddie Sheridan

I started YCODE because most skincare was never designed for men’s skin. What I write here is what the formulators taught me, and what the trials actually found.

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