Living Near Coast May Benefit Health

Isaac on the rocks which are literally a one minute walk from our house.

 

Living near the beach may come with an extra perk: better health.

 

A new study analyzed information from more than 48 million people in England and found that the nearer they lived to the coast, the more likely people were to report good health within the past year.

Living near the coast may be associated with better health because the seaside environment reduces stress the researchers said. They pointed to another British study that found that people who took trips to the coast experienced more feelings of calmness and relaxation than those who visited urban parks or the countryside.*

*Click here to read the full article.

My life here is ... vacation-like. Truly, every time I look out the window, take a walk, drive to the Base, I cannot help but think to myself, sometimes out loud ... "I live here! This is not a vacation."

Joni looked out the window of the third floor of our house and said, "People pay 400 bucks a night for a view like this."

I agree. I truly feel a sense of peace that I have never experienced anywhere else I have ever lived. I have truly fallen in love with this island and really feel that I could leave here for the rest of my life. To wake up and hear the ocean. To look out and see the waves. To be steps from the beach ... priceless.

Here are some other truths of our life in Portugal:

• Nearly every place you go will have people who can speak English. Learning the language really seems not that important.
• Portuguese is a very difficult language to learn because it varies from location to location. Azorean Portuguese is totally different from Brazilian Portuguese.
• The Portuguese are very outgoing and nice but they do not seem to understand how to help us learn the language. In Turkey, I found my best teachers were the Turks. Here, the Portuguese seem to be the worst teachers. When I ask anyone how to say anything, they give me different answers with different pronunciations and also look at me like, "Why would you want to know?"
• The people are very friendly. They do not stare at me or seem to give Americans any differential treatment.
• The Base is about a 10-15 minute drive from our house.
• While I miss the convenience and camaraderie of living on Base, living off-Base has definitely been great for our family. Our home is glorious and JB really needed to separate himself from work. (Hard to do as only one of two doctors on the Base.)
• The Base is different from Turkey and Eglin in that the "Base Housing" is actually off-Base. It's a bit strange.
• The Base is full of hills. Walking it with a stroller would be very difficult for me.
• The Base is very similar to Turkey with the things they have. The major difference is that there is no food court. Although we do have a Subway (if that counts.) Otherwise, it is nearly the same as Turkey.
• There are zero fast food restaurants on the entire island.
• The island is very small. We drove around it the other day. You can do it in about two hours.
• JB is very happy with the Clinic here. It is not perfect, but it is a very healthy work environment.
• Portuguese men remind me a lot of Turkish men in how close they stand and how affectionate they are with each other and with children (and how often they appear to be sitting around doing nothing.)
• The Portuguese culture is different from the Turkish culture health-wise. There is a lot more obesity here than there was in Turkey.
• Driving on the island is really very similar to the USA. The biggest difference is that there are relatively no stop lights on the island. Instead, there are round-abouts everywhere (like in the middle of the highway.)

Any other questions that I am not thinking of?