Why we need silence

How do you start the morning? Most likely, you wake up on an alarm clock. You go to the bathroom, quickly put yourself in order, have a quick bite to eat and rush to work. Jump in a car or take public transport, listen to the radio along the way, immerse yourself in the noise of the city. In the office you are surrounded by colleagues and clients, phone calls are heard, cars rush past the window, honking and honking, and so on for eight hours in a row. Continuous sound background increases stress, worsens the general condition of the body and shortens life expectancy.

The English word noise (noise) comes from the Latin nausea or noxia, which translates as “seasickness”, “nausea”, “injury”, “mutilation”, “wound”. Is it any wonder that it causes so much harm to health?

Scientists warn

A few years ago, scientists studied 340 million inhabitants of Western Europe. It turned out that due to “noise pollution” people in total lose about a million years of life a year. That is, every third person pays for the noise for a whole year of his life.

In 2011, specialists studied the impact of Munich Airport on the health and cognitive abilities of children. Cornell University professor Gary W. Evans found that children who were exposed to constant noise exposure developed a special stress response – ignoring noise. Moreover, the body thus protected itself not only from a frightening roar: the children had difficulty perceiving ordinary speech signals. Perhaps the current general attention deficit is due to the fact that there is too much noise and intrusive sounds around us.

“These results are the strongest, if not overwhelming, evidence that noise, even relatively harmless to hearing, causes stress and adversely affects people,” Evans said. Those who live outside the city for a long time, returning to the metropolis, usually experience acute discomfort. For them, the city atmosphere itself is unbearable – not only polluted air, but also energy, eternal haste and hustle. And this is quite understandable: it is unnatural and unhealthy for a person to constantly live and work in such a noisy environment.

Noise causes hypertension, cardiovascular disease, hearing loss and sleep disturbances. Those who are forced to be in a tense environment have constantly elevated levels of stress hormones. Fortunately, these factors can be countered.

The healing power of silence

Remember the moments when you were alone – in a village, a cottage in the mountains, or another secluded corner. Have you noticed how quiet it is? It is enough to be in complete peace for 3-4 hours to feel much better. And it’s not that the air is cleaner and you can not think about work: this is how silence works. Try turning on loud music or throwing a party at the cottage. You will quickly realize that you can’t relax, distracting external stimuli. The sensations are opposite, and if they are compared, it becomes clear what kind of rest is useful.

Researchers have studied the effects of noise, music, and silence on the brain. It turned out that during the pauses between soothing melodies, the brain relaxed much better than to the sounds of music. The longer the silence lasts, the more benefit the listeners get.

How to help yourself

The good news is that brain activity, weakened by excessive noise, gradually returns to normal. According to the theory of attention restoration, depleted cognitive resources begin to be replenished as soon as we get into a space that favorably affects the senses. In silence, the brain turns off the blocking mechanisms, and its temporarily lost functions are restored.

So, if you want to help yourself, make a special time for silence: at least half an hour a day without music, movies, conversations and phone calls.

Being in silence is important not only for the sake of restoring cognitive functions – it is an opportunity to briefly disconnect from the hectic world and hear yourself.

Source: Collective Evolution.