Campfires are one of my favorite things – they are so peaceful, relaxing and a great way to forget the problems/pressures of a daily grind. The chance to be outdoors at night and feel the warmth and smell of the fire bring me a strange level of fulfilment. Add a beer or two, and you will feel yourself getting “unwound” real quick.
I live in a city, but am still able to have a good fire in the backyard in my fire pit. I could stay by the fire all night – as opposed to my wife who humors me by hanging out with me, but really wants to go back to the house after an hour or two.
In my opinion, a man’s skill set should include being able to make a good campfire (without using lighter fluid!). There are actually many different types of camp fires, and many different ways of starting them. You can make them burn faster with more flames, or slower with fewer flames – you need to fit the right fire to the right situation.
Even though I feel fires are relaxing, there may actually be some science behind the feelings - I found this snippet from article online at discovermagazine.com where they measured blood pressure in adults before and after being subject to campfire sounds – here was the conclusion: “Results indicated consistent blood pressure decreases in the fire-with-sound condition, particularly with a longer duration of stimulus, and enhancing effects of absorption and prosociality. Findings confirm that hearth and campfires induce relaxation as part of a multisensory, absorptive, and social experience. Enhancements to relaxation capacities in the human social brain likely took place via feedback involving these and other variables.”
There you have it, research shoes that campfires can actually have health benefits, in addition to being extremely fun!
Get out there and make a fire!
Brian