Exposure to too much noise can have detrimental effects on your health. It can cause sleep loss, hearing loss, heart disease, increased blood pressure and stress hormones level like cortisol. Recently I came across an interesting research article that discussed the benefits of silence on our brains.
1) Increased Relaxation
In 2006, a physician Luciano Bernardi was studying the physiological effects of music when he discovered that 2 minute silent pauses within the music caused more relaxation than either the playing of relaxing music or a longer silence played before the experiment began.
2) Growth of New Brain Cells and Improvement of Memory
In 2013, Imke Kirste, a Duke University regenerative biologist was experimenting with the effects of sound in the brains of adult mice. She found that 2 hours of silence a day produced new cell creation in the part of the brain that was associated with memory.
The article goes on to discuss these and other experiments in more detail and also how within silence, our brain has a “background” activity level that is enlisted in the process of self-reflection.
So scheduling a little bit of silence during your day will not only improve your health but also help you become more self-aware and insightful
You can read the full article here: www.nautil.us/issue/38/noise/this-is-your-brain-on-silence.rp