Rock On

This letter originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Men’s Health Australia.

DESPITE THE DIVISION you see splashed across your myriad of devices, there are still things in our shared human existence that spark joy in almost everyone: puppies, cancelled meetings, Matthew McConaughey saying “alright, alright, alright”, that first sip of a Friday afternoon beer, your screen remaining intact after dropping your phone, receiving a negative COVID test, a ripe avocado, Julia Roberts’ smile, Julia Roberts with a puppy, a Friday afternoon beer with Julia Roberts and a smiling puppy . . . and, perhaps most unanimously of all, music.

Sure, even in this purest of pleasures, taste is subjective. But it’s undeniable that even the biggest cynic can find joy in the thumping chorus of their favourite song.

Music provides the soundtrack to our lives, punctuating our most important and memorable moments. There’s the first CD you were gifted as a kid (Men In Black, Will Smith), the backing track to your first kiss (Hey Baby, No Doubt), road-trip anthems with mates (California, Phantom Planet), ballads capturing the sorrow of your first heartbreak (Love The Way You Lie, Eminem) and tunes inspiring nights spent under the stars contemplating the great mysteries of the universe (Face The Sun, Miguel feat Lenny Kravitz). There’s a transformative power to music and, in this issue especially, the significance of its contribution to your health is worth highlighting.

A study conducted at the University of Bologna, for example, demonstrated the physical benefits listening to music can have on your training. “Listening to [self-selected] music induced a significant increase in strength-endurance performance,” the researchers reported after studying the strength programs of 31 athletes.

Scientists from Brunel University, meanwhile, found evidence of music’s cognitive impact, discovering that listening to tunes while exercising rewires your brain, decreasing your focus but elevating your enjoyment, pushing you into what’s known as a state of flow. Using an electroencephalogram to measure brain waves, the researchers identified a 28 per cent rise in subjects’ exercise enjoyment when they listened to music, compared to when they worked out to a podcast or in silence.

Given such startling results, I wouldn’t be surprised if the study participants were being fed a steady diet of love-infused Lenny Kravitz tracks. With albums dedicated to racial equality and love in all its forms, your Grammy Award-winning cover man has forged an enduring career producing music that inspires hope, encourages introspection and ignites euphoria. At 57, Kravitz has an energy, attitude and physique envied by men less than half his age – men who may have even been conceived to one of his more seductive hits – and there’s no doubt music has been a factor, perhaps even ‘instrumental’, in prolonging his physical prime.

“People always accuse me of being motivational in a way, like it was a bad thing,” Kravitz once said of the nature of his music. “That’s just how I was raised. My mum raised me in a positive environment, with lots of love in my heart, and that reflects in my music.”

In ‘times like these’, this issue has provided the perfect excuse to become reacquainted with Kravitz’s works and to reconnect with his continuing legacy of inspiring love. It’s never too late to introduce some classics to your self-care routine, to Let Love Rule and to be reminded that even though the state of the world may seem a little dire right now, It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over.