HEALTH

This week it’s all about the ocean and health and we have three incredible guests joining us.

We’re talking mental health with Jason Fox – former UK Special Forces Marine Commando and now TV presenter and mental health campaigner. Bhakti Sharma from Rajasthan in India has swum in all five oceans and eight seas and holds the world record for the longest swim in Antarctic waters – she tells us about the inspirational power of open water swimming and finally we dive into the science with Dr Jo Garrett to explore why being by the sea – and in fact all blue spaces – is good for health and well being.

CONTRIBUTORS

JASON FOX

Jason Fox is best known as the author of Battle Scars and Life Under Fire and as a TV presenter on Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins.  He spent 20 years as a Royal Marine Commando in the Special Forces working in counter terrorism, as a combat swimmer, hostage rescue and demolitions expert. Jason has been a campaigning force in raising awareness of mental health issues and co-founded Rock to Recovery, supporting veterans and their families dealing with PTSD.  On leaving the military, Jason and four friends rowed across the Atlantic from continent to continent the long way. He tells us about this gruelling journey and how it helped him recover from his own PTSD. 

Jason Fox

BHAKTI SHARMA

Bhakti Sharma knows all too well the health benefits of swimming. She grew up in Jaipur in Rajasthan where she learned to swim at the age of two.  But it wasn’t until she was 14 that she swam in the ocean for the first time. Since then she has swum in all five oceans of the world, she crossed the English Channel more than once, she swam around the Alcatraz rock and San Francisco Bay.  And she was the first Asian woman and the youngest to set a record for swimming in the extreme conditions of the sea around Antarctica, breaking previous records.

DR. JO GARRETT

Dr Jo Garrett’s research at the University of Exeter is focussed on the interactions between human health, wellbeing and nature with a particular focus on blue spaces such as the coast. Jo chats to us about the science she has carried out to prove that we really do feel better when we are by the sea.