Day 47: #BlueMind Challenge: Master Switch

We call it "Blue Mind" but your heart is a big part of the action too!

by James Nestor

The next time you’re at the beach your body will undergo the most profound transformation you can naturally experience. This is not a psychic prophecy; I don’t have precognition. The transformation I am describing will be physical, and it will be real. It’s the result of millions of years of human evolution, a trigger of ancient genes which you and all other humans share with billions of other deep-diving animals.

It looks something like this: You will be lying on the sand. Your skin will be warmed by the sun. You will become hot and thirst for a swim in the ocean. You will pick yourself up and stroll to the water’s edge, wade calmly into the lapping waves, and jump in. The moment your face submerges in the sea’s salty waters, a Hulk-like metamorphosis will trigger. Blood will begin rushing from your hands and feet, up your legs and arms, and into your core; your heart rate will reflexively lower 25% its normal rate; your mind will enter a meditative, almost dreamlike-state. If you choose to dive deeper, the transformation will grow more profound until you bare only a passing resemblance to your terrestrial form. You will become a water animal — a fish, essentially.

Scientists call this transformation the mammalian dive reflex or, more lyrically, the Master Switch of Life. They’ve been researching it for the past 50 years.

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