Beautiful scenery, delectable seafood, fun activities, friendly coastal community and the beach itself—these are all great reasons to retire at the beach. They’re also the same reasons people who don’t live near the coast keep coming back to the beach.
But unlike these people, if you’re retiring at the beach, there’s no going back to your home in the city, or elsewhere. You’re not only going to be there for the summer (or winter). Instead, you’re probably spending the rest of your life there. And so you need more than just a few good reasons to uproot your life and move to a beach town. Here, you’ll discover just why it’s a marvelous idea to retire at the beach.
People who live on the coast are generally happier
There’s something about the sea that draws us to it. Every time we go to the beach, it seems we always come back home happy and satisfied. If you’ve ever wondered why, scientists are finally starting to unearth the reasons.
There’s increasing evidence showing that living near the ocean or any sizable body of water is good for your mental health.
According to Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist who wrote about this topic in detail in his best-selling book called Blue Mind, being by the water “lowers stress and anxiety, increasing an overall sense of well-being and happiness, a lower heart and breathing rate, and safe, better workouts. Aquatic therapists are increasingly looking to the water to help treat and manage PTSD, addiction, anxiety disorders, autism and more.”
Research conducted by other institutions also backs this idea, including a study from the University of Exeter.
If you need a strong reason to retire at the beach, this is probably it. Your well-being and happiness should be your main priority in retirement, after all. But this isn’t where the health benefits of living near the water end. There’s actually more.
Retiring at the beach will encourage you to be more active
Have you ever felt like there are as many reasons to work out as there are excuses not to? Living by the beach will help you stop finding excuses. It’ll be hard to resist the beautiful sunshine, the feeling of sand against your skin, the crashing waves, and the call of the ocean. Whether it be swimming, playing beach volleyball or simply taking leisurely walks by the water, you’ll want to go out and do some type of physical activity without needing to convince yourself.
There’s even a 2014 study whose findings reveal that people who live near the coast are healthier thanks to higher levels of physical activity. If you retire at the beach, you might just finally reach your fitness goals, if you haven’t already.
More frequent visits from family and friends
The beach is a great place to be, so you won’t need to do much persuading to get your family and friends to visit you. In fact, they’ll probably ask to come to visit without you asking them. And it’s not just because they want to swim in the ocean. If it was all about swimming, they could just go anywhere with a pool or body of water.
In a survey done by UCLA in 2016, 32.7% of respondents said they go to the beach to “enjoy the scenery or relax.” And 31% said that they visit the beach so that “children can play.”
If there’s anything this survey proves, it’s that the beach is easily the best place for parents to relax without worrying about whether their children are also having fun. They can finally get that much-needed rest and relaxation, and you’ll be able to play with the grandkids as much as you want.
Furthermore, it’ll give them some peace of mind that you’ve retired at the beach they’re visiting. You’ll know the ins and outs of the area, all the cool places to go, and where exactly to take them. It’s almost like they’re getting their own personal tour guide.
You’ll finally be able to relax (read: get better sleep)
Retiring at the beach will help you take relaxation to new heights. Apart from getting to enjoy fresh air and lower levels of air pollution, air that’s exposed to seawater is also charged with a great number of negative ions. This is worth mentioning because negative ionization has been shown to reduce stress and help regulate your mood.
Not to mention beach towns are generally more peaceful and quieter than the city, and the pace is often substantially slower. You’ll finally be able to let loose, live in the moment and be yourself, instead of constantly being bogged down by the daily grind.
All these, plus a few other things, will help you get what many people want but can’t seem to get: better sleep. When you’ve been feeling relaxed at numerous points of the day and at the same time doing enough physical activity, sleep just comes easily and naturally to you. Moreover, the waves crashing onto the beach provides a natural white noise filter that can put almost anyone into a deep sleep.
There are tons of other great things that come with retiring at the beach. Some of them you’ll discover by spending maybe a few weeks or months at the beach of your choosing, and some of them you’ll only learn after having lived there for a long time. As long as you pick a beach town or city that meets most if not all of your needs, a happy, enjoyable and satisfying retirement should await you.