Saturday, January 19, 2013

"Why the Beach Makes Us Happy"

 

Why the Beach Makes Us Happy . . .

If you have a chance to pick up Coastal Living magazine’s February issue, they have an interesting story about “Why the beach makes us happy”.  You may be thinking, “well duh, of course . . . you’re on vacation, you’re off work, you’re with your family, etc.” and all that is true.  But the article also goes into some research about why the beach brings happiness, which is fairly interesting.  For instance, the color blue is shown to produce feelings of security and relaxation.  Research on acoustics finds that humans find most pleasant those sounds that have predictable wave patterns, soft volumes and harmonic frequencies at regular intervals – all characteristics of the ocean’s rhythms.  The article also looks at the importance of tactile senses (sand, salt air) and also the human ability to store memories of happy times, which also brings a sense of satisfaction. 

 It’s pretty fascinating “stuff” from one of my favorite magazines. 

 

1 comment:

  1. will check out the article for sure! I always have thought there is a reason you feel better at the beach!

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