6 Surprising Ways the Sound of Falling Water Can Benefit Your Wellbeing

6 Surprising Ways the Sound of Falling Water Can Benefit Your Wellbeing | Aquaflame Fountain Diffuser

We live in a fast-paced world where we're constantly rushing around to pick the kids up from soccer practice, get that big presentation finished by the deadline, squeeze in a quick workout before dinner… the list goes on and on. But there's a light at the end of the busy-is-best tunnel and it's called the self-care revolution! We’re starting to understand how healthy it is for us to slow down and take care of ourselves, and that mentality is at the core of the Aquaflame Fountain Diffuser.

It might seem random and surprising but surrounding yourself with the soothing sound of falling water can impact your mental and physical health in more ways than you would think. In this post, we're going to share six ways that the sound of falling water can benefit you in your daily life.

1. Anxiety & Stress Relief

When we’re so focused on staying busy, making deadlines, and meeting goals, stress and anxiety creep in and become just as much a part of our daily lives as brushing our teeth. If we don’t take the time to find ways to relieve it, it starts to take a toll on both our mental and physical health.

Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols describes that state of bring stressed, anxious, over-connected and over-stimulated as the “red mind” – the current norm of our modern lives. Nichols is the author of a book called “Blue Mind” where he explores the neurological, psychological and emotional changes our brains experience when we are close to water. Nichols describes the “blue mind effect” as the meditative state we experience when we are close to water (and turn off our phones to just enjoy it). That body of water could be an ocean, lake, river, pool, or even your bathtub! The sight and sound of water connects us back with nature.

For most of us, getting out to the ocean or the lake to wind down at the end of a stressful day isn’t exactly practical, which was the original “Aha!” moment behind Aquaflame. Aquaflame was invented by Colorado resident Brian Ray years ago while sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan with his wife. They were basking in the peaceful tranquility of nature when Brian’s wife asked if he could bottle that feeling.

So the next time that you’re feeling stressed or anxious take 30 minutes or an hour to disconnect from your phone, turn your Aquaflame Fountain Diffuser on and draw yourself a nice relaxing bath to explore how the “blue mind effect” makes you feel!

2. Increased Concentration

Do you ever feel scattered throughout the day like you’re jumping from task to task and when the day is over you wonder what you even got done? We feel you! With the constant distractions of emails, messaging, phone notifications, and impromptu meetings, somedays it's hard to concentrate enough to follow a task through to completion.

Luckily, increasing our concentration can be as simple as listening to the sounds of nature (like say falling water) throughout the day. According to Headspace, a popular meditation app, the cognitive response to the sounds of nature have been shown to increase productivity, improve overall mood, and create a deeper relaxation. Which makes sense – it’s hard to concentrate on the task at hand when you’re stressed out, right?

A 2017 study from the University of Sussex delved deeper into what the effects of listening to natural sounds are on our minds and bodies. When the participants listened to the sounds of nature “the brain connectivity reflected an outward-directed focus of attention” versus when participants listened to artificial sounds “the brain connectivity reflected an inward-directed focus of attention, similar to states observed in anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.” When listening to natural sounds, there was also an increase in the participants rest-digest nervous system activity (associated with relaxation of the body), and they were better able to focus on a task.

So, if you find yourself struggling to focus at work, while you’re studying, or even during your creative time, turn your Aquaflame on and use the remote to set a 1-hour timer and get yourself into a flow state. Take it an hour at a time, and then take a break – when you come back, settle in and set that timer again!

3. Improve Your Sleep Quality

Who doesn’t want better sleep? There’s nothing worse than spending all day feeling tired and groggy, and then when it’s finally time to go to bed – guess what? You suddenly wake up and think about all the random things you need to do, or scroll mindless through your phone until you fall asleep and start the cycle all over again in the morning…

If you’ve spent any time Googling “how to fall asleep faster,” you’ve probably read suggestions about playing nature sounds, specifically water sounds like falling rain or ocean waves to help lull you to sleep. That’s because our brains interpret sounds as either threats or non-threats, and the smooth and steady sound of moving water is registered as a non-threat that helps put us in a more relaxed state.

Natural sounds are also like Mother Nature’s version of a white noise machine. The soothing sounds help tune out both internal and external noise. If you have trouble sleeping because your mind gets busy, or because you live in the city that’s busy with noises at all hours, the sound of falling water gives your mind something else to focus on so you can drift off peacefully.

Get yourself a good night of rest by adding an Aquaflame Fountain Diffuser to your nightstand and use the remotes timer function – if you prefer just falling asleep to sounds, try the 1-hour timer or if you prefer having the sound running all night, you can use the 24-hour timer and turn it off in the morning when you wake up. For extra relaxation, add 5-10 drops of an essential oil that helps promote sleep (like lavender, or rosemary)!

4. Natural Meditation Assistance

For years, we’ve been hearing how great meditation is for our mental health. But it can be pretty dang hard to sit still and quite our minds – there’s so many distractions, sitting in one position might get uncomfortable or make you fidgety, or maybe you start to get frustrated or even fall asleep. Well, the soothing sound of flowing water is coming to your rescue again!

We’ve already touched on how the natural sounds of water can help create an overall more relaxed and focused mindset, and it’s really that same idea coming into play again with meditation assistance. According to Michael Wenger, dean of Buddhist studies at the San Francisco Zen Center, "Moving water is 'white noise,' in which you can hear many things. Everyone may hear a different song in the water. Just listening to the sound--not tying it to anything, just letting sound wash over you--is a way of letting go of your ideas and directly experiencing things as they are." Which is essentially the idea behind meditation, not to completely empty your mind of thoughts or feelings, but to observe and understand them.

Maybe you’ve tried meditation before with little success, but we’re going to challenge you to give it another go. Create a peaceful spot in your home where you won’t be interrupted for a few minutes, turn your Aquaflame on and start with short breathing exercises. Keep at it and pretty soon, you’ll be a mediation master!

 5. Creates Negative Ions

Unless you’re helping your kids with their science homework, you probably aren’t giving much thought to ions. But our homes and offices are filled with electronics that are constantly emitting positive ions, and apparently positive ions = negative attitudes. Which is part of why you feel so great after a hike in some remote woods, or a walk along the beach. Nature is full of negative ions that boost our happiness.

Those negative ions have a lot of benefits that make us feel good, including cleaning up the air that we’re breaking at home. According to a study by the US Department of Agriculture adding negative ions to a room decreased dust in the air by 52% and reduced bacteria up to 95%.

Water fountains naturally create negative ions in the same way that a rain fall or crashing waves would, so think about rooms that have a lot of electronic – is there a spot where you could put an Aquaflame (they’re cordless, so that makes it a lot simpler!) in that room to help combat those positive ions? The study from the US Department of Agriculture also found that certain essential oils, like eucalyptus and peppermint, could boost the air cleaning effect of negative ions, so try adding 5-10 drops of either to your Aquaflame!

6. Adds Moisture and Humidity to Rooms Naturally

If you live in a dry area, or an area that experiences dry winters, then you probably know all about the benefits of having a humidifier in your home. The extra moisture is good for your skin, helps with sinus colds, and can help keep you from feeling parched and dry in your home. You’re probably also familiar with some of the downsides to humidifiers – mainly that they get dirty easily and can be hard to clean, and the moisture can lead to mold in the machine.

Water fountains can act as a natural humidifier in your home, the water in the fountain will slowly evaporate over time, adding that extra moisture to the air in your home. As an extra bonus, if you’re running your fountain regularly, the movement of the water helps prevent mold growth!

If you have a room that could use a little extra moisture, try adding an Aquaflame fountain to help relieve your skin and sinuses from the dryness.

Now that you’ve discovered 6 ways that the sound of falling water can help improve your mental and physical health, think about how you could benefit from it the most. Try adding an Aquaflame Fountain Diffuser into the spaces in your home where you can layer the benefits on top of each other – like on your nightstand, where it can help you get a better night of sleep, add some moisture to the air and help keep the air clean, or on your desk where it can help you focus, and the negative ions will give you a mood boost throughout your work day.