Last Sunday we drove about two hours to Opal Beach, a white sandy beach which is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore managed under the federally funded National Park Service. There was a $25 fee to enter but we opted for the $45 yearly pass since we plan on coming back a few times in the next year or so.
We brought our own food and beverages and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the sun and surf.
The water was a stunning Emerald green due to the high amount of algae from the seaweed floating in it. Unlike red algae in bloom which can cause a toxic overload and make people sick, this brown seaweed, sometimes called beach holly, isn’t toxic and it is still safe to immerse in the water and people did! We sat under a cloudless perfectly blue sky and the wind was warm and relaxing and watched a father teach his kids how to surf on the gently sloping waves, watched little kids run in and out of the surf and lazily enjoyed just being outside in the fresh gulf air.
Being from the West Coast and growing up going to the beaches in Santa Cruz or San Francisco, we weren’t accustomed to the amount of algae that was floating in the water, lining the shoreline and sticking to our bodies. We’re still getting used to the temperature of the water, too. Pacific Ocean water is ice-cold. Gulf of Mexico water is warm and in some cases even hot.
When it was time to head home, we packed up our chairs and umbrella and cooler and headed to the restrooms provided by the Park. Being in a hurry and not really thinking about it, we didn’t rinse off under the showers they provide to the public just outside of the restrooms. Visitors are meant to shower off with their swimsuits on since the shower heads have no privacy enclosure.
I walked past the showers, waving away the thought that I should take a couple minutes to shower off and changed out of my swimsuit. As I was peeling it off I thought a piece of my swimsuit fabric had fallen apart and fallen off. I realized then it wasn’t fabric that was falling apart, but actually large patches of green algae that had the consistency of dried paste. It had become trapped under my swimsuit and it dried as we were packing up our things. When I removed my swimsuit it fell off my body onto the floor of the restroom stall.
I instinctively knew for some reason that it wouldn’t harm me. But i now realize why people rinse off before they go into the restrooms to change before driving home. We got back Sunday afternoon and today is Wednesday, I was still picking out little pieces of bright green algae bits out of my hair and some even got in my eyes.
When we got home I decided to do some research into this bright green algae. In the meantime, my husband came down with a terrible headache, for about a day and a half. But I was feeling good.
I was diagnosed with a rare inflammatory illness in 1977 after having been administered the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccine when I was six years old. Since then, the only thing that really makes me feel as if I’m in optimal health is when I’m in the water and even better if I’m in ocean water. I never thought about why ocean water specifically made me feel so good, having grown up in a coastal region.
But as I dug a little deeper into this green algae, I found something that the brown clumps of seaweed you see along the sandy shore in our photo above, which floats thickly in the water, wrapping around your legs and catching your arms when immersed in the water and which causes the water to turn green, is what I believe to be sargassum.
Natives, or individuals who’ve lived along the Gulf Coast longer than I have may argue with me and say it’s not Sargassum, but based on what I saw in person it seemed to correlate with what I was reading about online. I did discover that high levels of Sargassum exposure can cause headaches, which my husband did have. He never gets headaches and this one lasted well over 24 hours after we returned from the beach. But I didn’t get a headache, outside of a slight dull ache from too much sun exposure. Both he and I rubbed a little arnica montana gel on our foreheads and our headaches went away. So maybe the Sargassum wasn’t what caused his headache but I didn’t rule it out.
What I did discover, though, is that Sargassum has incredible healing properties. For instance, found on ResearchGate:
“Sargassum is recognized both empirically and scientifically as a potential anti-inflammatory agent. Inflammation is an important response in the body that helps to overcome various challenges to body homeostasis such as microbial infections, tissue stress, and certain injuries. Excessive and uncontrolled inflammatory conditions can affect the pathogenesis of various diseases. This review aims to explore the potential of Sargassum’s anti-inflammatory activity, not only in crude extracts but also in sulfated polysaccharides and purified compounds. The tropical region has a promising availability of Sargassum biomass because its climate allows for the optimal growth of seaweed throughout the year. This is important for its commercial utilization as functional ingredients for both food and non-food applications. To the best of our knowledge, studies related to Sargassum’s anti-inflammatory activity are still dominated by subtropical species. Studies on tropical Sargassum are mainly focused on the polysaccharides group, though there are some other potentially bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, terpenoids, fucoxanthin, fatty acids and their derivatives, typical polar lipids, and other groups. Information on the modulation mechanism of Sargassum’s bioactive compounds on the inflammatory response is also discussed here, but specific mechanisms related to the interaction between bioactive compounds and targets in cells still need to be further studied.“
Here, too is a link from the National Institute of Health discussing the potential health benefits of Sargassum.
For those women of a certain age, like me, you may be experiencing hormonal imbalances or you may be experiencing an overworked or underworked thyroid. I discovered that sargassum is antioxidant, promotes proper hormone balance, protects from radiation and kills bacteria and fungi. When the thyroid is compromised, symptoms can include unexplained weight loss or weight gain, fatigue, hair loss and dry skin. Also, Sargassum is one of the algae used in the production of Agar, a gelatinous substance that benefits healthy weight loss as it is low in calories, fat and sugar. Promoting a feeling of satiety, it can also help to stabilize blood sugar and block the storage of fat.
I see in general the people that live along the Gulf Coast are much healthier. Their bodies are in better shape, they seem happier, active and have a wholesome outlook on their health and life in general.
I’m wondering how many people, like me, who have learned to live with joint pain and all the side effects that living with inflammation causes, would benefit from being immersed in Sargassum or at least add it to their bath, their protein drinks or even their supplement regimen.
I’m no doctor or health expert. But the benefits of being immersed in the water at Opal Beach for just a few hours were so incredible I had to share. For days I’ve had no pain, no fatigue, and generally feel as if I’m well-balanced and feeling good.
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