Book that concert or festival ticket… it’s for your own good. If you’ve been looking for a sign from the universe to buy tickets to see your favorite artists… to borrow a line from Bill Engvall, here’s your sign. A study from 02 and Patrick Fagan – and expert in behavioral science – says that attending concerts every so often could help to increase your life expectancy. The sweet spot actually seems to be twice a month (also known as a fortnight), and the research found that “just 20 minutes of gig-time” resulted in “a significant 21% increase in feelings of wellbeing.” So you don’t even have to stay for the full set if you don’t want to… though your checkbook might prefer for you to do so. Evidently, live music has tremendous power on us humans. And it makes sense, right? I never feel more alive and connected with my fellow humans than when I’m rocking out with thousands of like-minded people. Now that I know there are health benefits (maybe not ear-health benefits) of attending concerts twice a month, I’ll have to start putting more on the calendar. According to the results of the study, the more concerts I go to, the more concerts I’ll be able to go to… if that makes sense. Attending live music events with regularity can apparently increase your lifespan by almost a decade: “Additional scholarly research directly links high levels of wellbeing with a lifespan increase of nine years pointing to a direct link between gig-going and longevity.” SIGN ME UP. If you are skeptical and want some more concrete support for how this study was conducted, I’d be more than happy to point you towards that. The 02’s research found that going to gigs could potentially provide more benefits than yoga or going on walks: “The findings come off the back of bespoke psychometric and heart-rate tests at a range of wellbeing activities – including gig-going, yoga and dog walking. The gig experience increased participants feelings of wellbeing by 21% – with key markers across the happiness spectrum showing increases, including feelings of self-worth (+25%) and closeness to others (+25%) whilst mental stimulation climbed by an impressive 75%. Accompanying research showed a positive correlation between regularity of gig attendance and wellbeing. Those who attend live concerts once a fortnight and more were the most likely to score their happiness, contentment, productivity and self-esteem at the highest level (10/10), suggesting that regularly experiencing live music is the key to building a long-standing improvement to wellbeing.” This is the part of the presentation of research where I like to exclaim, “Say less.” You want me to go to more concerts? And you are telling me the more that I go to, the longer I live? Thus more concerts in total during my lifetime? Finally some good news from a scientific study. Patrick Fagan, an associate lecturer at Goldsmith’s University, capped off the study’s conclusion with this statement: “Our research showcases the profound impact gigs have on feelings of health, happiness and well-being–with fortnightly or regular attendance being the key. Combining all of our findings with O2’s research, we arrive at a prescription of a gig a fortnight which could pave the way for almost a decade more years of life.” Although, I suppose the study didn’t account for the number of beers I’m gonna be drinking twice a month…The post Study Shows That Attending Concerts Twice A Month Can Help You Live Almost A Decade Longer first appeared on Whiskey Riff.