Silence is much more important to your brain than you think

In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that environmental noise has a negative impact on public health. We are constantly filling our ears with music, TV and radio news, podcasts and, of course, a multitude of sounds that we constantly create in our heads. This noise, that roar is a disease. It can really mess us up. It stresses us, we feel depressed, eat the frustration into us, are at the end - slain by the ups and downs of our technological worlds. But there is a very simple antidote: silence.

Think about how many moments you spend each day in complete silence? The answer is probably ‘almost none".

As our internal and external environments become louder and louder, more people begin to seek silence, whether through the practice of sitting quietly for 10 minutes each morning, meditating or retreating into nature for several days.

1. silence frees us from stress and tension

LOUD noises increase our blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attacks and affect our overall health. They activate the amygdala in the brain, which then releases the stress hormone cortisol. The environmental psychologist found these effects in 2004.

Silence does the opposite. According to a study from 2006, two minutes of silence can clearly relax us, lower blood pressure and stimulate the blood flow in the brain - and even more than any relaxation music.

2. In silence, we can think better and more creatively

In the brain, there is a so-called default mode network ("hibernation network " or "standard network") - a group of brain regions, which become active when it has no particular task to solve and is not stimulated by stimuli such as sounds. For example, when we meditate, fantasize or just let our thoughts wander.

In this mode, we can access much better our emotions and memories, our ideas and thoughts. We recognize the meaning - the connections in our lives - can feel better than other people. We are also more creative in silence.

It is, as the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle wrote: "In silence, the truly great things are born."

But we have to pull the plug and make us free for a while from the distractions.

3. In silence, the brain grows

Literally, new brain cells develop (do not worry, it never gets so big that it bursts out of the skull).

In 2013, there was a study with mice, in which the influence of various sounds on the brains of the rodents was examined: ambient noise, very high noises, dog whining, and silence. Actually, the silence should only serve as a distinguishing feature of the control group. Indeed, the researchers found that two hours of daily silence allowed new cells to grow in the hippocampus of mice, the brain region associated with learning, memory, and emotions. The new brain cells were also quickly connected in the residual brain and could take over functions in the system.

Find silence

It’s really simple, and you do not even need me to tell you that: to find silence, all you have to do is take the time to sit still – every day as you can.

Find a time in the morning when the world is still quite calm to sit still. Do not do anything. Do not plan your day, do not check your emails, eat nothing.

Just sit and learn to be comfortable in the silence.

Through practice, we gradually find ourselves and we become good at it. If you do not like the morning, look for a time during lunch break or after work or in the evening.

Find a place where you can be quiet. It can be a chair in your apartment or a porch or corner in your bedroom. It can be a park bench or a beach or a path in the forest. Make this a ritual that you meet daily. From this small place of silence, the calm will radiate with relieving power into the rest of the day. You’ll be quieter throughout the day, finding little moments of silence here and there: when you start your workday when you sit down and start eating when you eat your meal: when you play sports: even in the midst of a meeting.

Practice in silence. Regularly, Practice and learn. Practice silence and the silence becomes a canvas on which you can paint the masterpiece of your life.

Even though silence can sometimes be hard to endure, we are still looking for something that takes us out of the overabundances of everyday life: something that animates us inwardly and points to the core of our lives.