Take a mental swim with these live marine life cams

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.

In times of crisis, I turn to ancient gelatinous Cnidarians to soothe my soul.

They call these creatures "jellyfish." As the victim of multiple jellyfish attacks, I prefer to ogle them from a remove, either from behind an aquarium glass wall, or failing that, a computer screen.

They and all their delightfully lethargic underwater friends provide much comfort during hard times, (a.k.a. all times at this point.)

Though I wish I could spend an hour a day at the New England Aquarium, for those of us who don't have access to aquariums/are too cool to live in Boston, there are plenty of aquarium live feeds online, available free of charge. Plus, a study published in Environment and Behavior found that well-stocked aquariums, like pets, have a soothing effect on humans. Watching a tank for five minutes can temporarily relieve anxiety. It's like having a margarita with none of the puking.

There's just something so primitively comforting about seeing an illuminated blob fart around in a tank. It's slow-paced aquatic living.

Personally, I rely on a combination of live feeds and long feed recordings featured on YouTube. Here are a few suggestions for where to get your underwater fix:

1. The Live Jelly Cam from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

It's like a Windows screensaver, but good.

2. A live West Coast sea nettles cam

What these sea nettles lack in color they make up for in sheer blobiness.

3. A live sea otter cam at the Seattle Aquarium

Sea otters are healing. Please don't bring up the *one* time a group of otters were caught on camera banding together to kill a monkey at the Bronx Zoo. These aren't those otters.

4. A live beluga cam from the Churchill River estuary in Manitoba, Canada

Baby belugas > adult humans, most days of the week.

5. Footage from a Great Barrier Reef cam

I've dreamed of the Great Barrier Reef ever since playing Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? as a child. Now my dream can play out on-screen right in front of me.

6. Footage from an Osaka Aquarium cam in Japan

It's a stunning potpourri of sea creatures.

7. A live reef lagoon cam

This cam will lull you into an afternoon nap.

8. A live walrus cam

Most of the time I check this channel, the walruses aren't even there. I'm cool with it. The idea that walruses might one day show up is healing on its own.

9. Just a clip from The Little Mermaid

It's not live, nor is it technically real, but it has everything these other cams lack: songs, dance, and forks that double as hairbrushes.

Watch and restore thyself.