The Secret Health Benefits of Concert Attendance

Music makes people dance and sing. Tapping a toe or an entire foot seems the right thing to do when a melody snakes out of musical instruments and slithers across the dance hall.

Gotta move when the music is right

As far back as the 6th Century B.C., the Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, rightfully determined the numerical relationships between strings that produced tones at different pitches. Yeah, this is the same guy that has haunted high school students with his famous (or infamous if you struggled to remember  it) Pythagorean Theorem. It stated that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

What are you trying to prove?

Understanding the various notes made by stringed instruments seemed a lot easier for people to handle as they jumped, danced, and drank around bonfires or carried burning torches on feast days.

You got to move it - move it!

The history of music and dance begins eons in the past. From the Brazilian rainforests to the hinterlands of the Kalahari desert, people have sang, played music and danced as a way to feel better about themselves and others. It restored the vitality of life after a cold winter or the end of the rainy season. In Medieval Europe there were countless danses macabres as a way to ward off diseases like the Black Plague. The only problem with this venture that some of the dancers actually died from exhaustion - but let's put that one on the back burner for now.

I'm sorry, but I think I'll sit this dance out.

Historical records are rich with these revelations of how humans have enjoyed the mysterious sounds of music and the potential health benefit music has on the person and their soul.

Thus the point of this blog.

According to a 2016 study out of Australia from Deakin University - regular attendees of musical concerts had an improved sense of mental well-being and were happier than those others in the study who did not attend concerts.

Can't argue with the Aussies when they can do this.

MusicOOMPH - quite a catchy title for an online magazine detailed twenty-two reasons why attending live musical events can actually be healthy for a person. We've decided to mention our favorite six in this blog - not that the others aren't as important but we like these the best and it is our blog.

#1. Lose calories - Dancing can burn over 400 calories per hour and with thousands of your best unknown friends dancing near you, it is contagious. Move your feet and shake whatever you have and burn up those calories while toning your legs. What a great way to get in shape.

#2. Stress Reduction - Musical performances decrease the release of cortisol, a chemical known as the stress hormone. Not only does the stress level go down but so does the blood pressure. Gyrating and grinding in front of the stage has health all over it.

#3. Change your mood to a more positive state of mind - come on, that's a no brainer. Moving and grooving with a loved one to live music makes a person feel strong and sexy (they may not look like it to others but it's what being thought within the individuals head that counts). I can dance so I can conquer the world - yeah, baby!

#4. Relieves Pain - yep, Dr. Steven Eisenburg from San Diego stated that listening to music can proactively produce an analgesic effect and actually can reduce pain levels in a person. And who is going to argue with a doctor from San Diego?

#5. Improves a person's general sense of well-being. If you can dance non-stop for a two-hour concert - not only are you sweaty and stinky, but feeling great that you were able to do it. A psychological success that releases endorphins which are the key ingredients of feeling super-duper.

#6. Meet your favorites - Musicians have fans and those fans want to meet them, and what better place than a concert? Meeting backstage may be possible for some big bucks (or even better luck) but just to see the musician on stage is enough. Souvenirs from the concert are reminders that we did something unique and that is always a great feeling.

So, John and Laureen took all of the above and visited the Laughlin Event Center late in October to see one of our favorite singers - Sir Rod Stewart.

He took the stage and took the audience with him with two hours of old favorites and some new songs from his latest album.

Seventy-three years old and he moved about the stage like time had forgotten about him, with perhaps the slight exception that he was limping like crazy. Sir Rod explained that he had injured himself quite badly while playing futbol with his children recently.

Sir Rod Stewart ready to throw out some futbols to the audience

The show must go on and so did Stewart - He 'Maggie-Mayed' and 'If you think I'm Sexy'd' all over the outdoor theater. Thunderous applause, hoots, hollers, singing along with the lyrics, and yes, much dancing was the order of the evening.

Rod Stewart moving across the stage

Dancing and more Dancing

Hobbling or not - Stewart looked pretty happy and healthy

And like all the research for this blog - the facts are the facts. Two hours and both bloggers felt tired but extremely healthy and alive.

Music may be the best medicine after all.

For further information on this topic.

http://www.rodstewart.com/

https://musicoomph.com/live-concert-benefits

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735616659552

Walking With the Dead....Almost... Revisited

A few years back we wrote a piece about Halloween - the idea came when we traveled to Ireland and spent some time in Dublin among other places around the Emerald Isle. So many of our readers with this blog liked it we decided to bring it back for another look. A revisit if one may say?

Hope it is as popular the second time around as it was the first.

By the way - HAPPY HALLOWEEN from J and L.



Walking with the Dead...Almost

Paddling For Your Life

An overview of Bahia de Los Angles and  Isla Angel de la Guarda 

In 1993, I (or more precisely, J, of J and L) was kayaking off the coast near the sleepy village of Bahia de Los Angles, approximately 417 miles south of San Diego in the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California). I had been on the road a couple of weeks, kayaking up and down the beautiful, but deserted coastline of Baja.

Bahia de Los Angles on the Sea of Cortez

Traveling by himself during the age of the dinosaur, before cell phone use was common, no one knew of his exact location. Of course, I knew where I was, but without contact of any sort with the outside world, I was not aware that a potential monster of a storm was brewing directly south of Cabo San Lucas.

Cabo San Lucas was getting slammed before John knew about it

One exceptionally gorgeous and calm summer day, I struck out from the coast in my 15-foot sea kayak and headed toward Isla Angel de la Guarda – about 27 miles east of Bahia de Los Angeles through the bright blue waters.

Who wouldn't want to go to this island? 

Being younger, and not much brighter than I am today, I didn’t bother to wear a life jacket. A seasoned kayaker, sea, river and lakes, I just thought that this beautiful morning while the gulf was like glass, it would be an easy paddle to the island where I had planned to camp overnight.
Things didn’t turn out as planned – as is often the case with best laid plans of men.

Unbeknownst to me, churning up the Sea of Cortez was Hurricane Calvin, while I sat in my kayak paddling calmly across the smooth seas enjoying the serenity and beauty of the bay. Two hours later things changed drastically. I noticed the surface was getting a little rough and my paddling efforts were sluggish. The smooth glass had turned to large rippling waves.

Not a place to be in a kayak by yourself or even with others!

Determining that I had traveled 8 to 10 miles out from the coast, I cast a look far south down the gulf and saw a wall of black approaching rapidly. The winds had started to pick up as rain began pelting my face and arms sideways. Suddenly lighting was striking down from the heavens nearby. The ocean was no longer the place to be sitting in a small craft.

Being without communication, I had not realized that a hurricane had made landfall in Cabo San Lucas before heading northward – right at me. But I did understand that I was for in a world of hurt.
Realizing that reaching the island, which was still a long way off, was rather doubtful, I spun the kayak and paddled like hell toward the mainland. Within twenty minutes the calm sea broiled into swells five or six feet in height. I paddled with all my strength, forcing the little yellow kayak up the face of a wave, only to slide into the trough below, several times submerging into the foaming waters. Once or twice, the kayak was hit by an unexpected and unseen sideways swell, nearly capsizing as I paddled now for my life.

In a hurricane ,the waves come from every angle - hold on!

It was at about this time that I realized that the next time I decided to kayak – if of course there were to be another paddling adventure – I’d prefer to be wearing a life vest. Just in case!
Nearly eight hours later, shore came into view and with a rather undignified and painful landing on the beach, I gratefully touched land once more.

Shivering and exhausted, I took shelter in the bed of my truck while the winds tried desperately to tear the camper shell from the truck.
An hour later the sun was out and everything began to dry out from the drenching the arid desert had received.

So, the point of this blog? Well, there is a bit of a moral to this story:

One, be prepared whenever going out on the ocean or any body of water for that matter. Two, make sure someone who cares about you knows your exact location in case you don’t show back up – at least some sort of rescue could be attempted. Three, always wear a life jacket – being separated from your boat but floating face up is better than being separated from your boat and floating face down. Four, always check the weather conditions before exploring the waters or embarking on any adventure for that matter. And finally, don’t paddle alone. Always have a companion or two with you while paddling in any body of water – accidents can (and do) happen and the unseen can capsize a boat, even in calm waters.

Be safe and use caution as the guiding principal.

Having grown older, wiser, and having learned my lesson, I recently paddled off shore from Grace Bay in Providenciales, in Turks and Caicos, to the reef about a mile out. Bight Reef, also known as Coral Gardens, is an incredibly beautiful place to snorkel and paddle to but again one needs to be watchful, as the reef is home to not only a plethora of species of coral and fish, but also sea turtle, shrimp, lobsters, stingrays, moray eels and the occasional nurse shark.

It was a just couple of days after Hurricane Michael tore through the Florida panhandle, and though these Caribbean islands were not in harm’s way, the weather was a bit unstable. Thinking I could handle a short little jaunt on my own in the kayak, I headed down the beach. Suddenly, a still voice told me to text my wife. Although she was thousands of miles away on business, I thought that perhaps I should let her know where I was and what I was doing. See, I had learned my lesson. The voice in the back of cranium also suggested that it would be a good idea to reach for a life-jacket.
Glad that I listened to that voice. The waters grew rougher as the day progressed, but it was worth every sore muscle. Perhaps a few pictures can explain it better.

So, yes, do go explore and be adventurous, but always remain cognizant of your surroundings and put a thought or two into personal safety. A bit of common sense that perhaps I sometimes lack – but then again I’m a professional adventurer. Still, we at J and L wouldn’t want that next adventure to be the last adventure.

For a closer look at the adventure, click here.