My Mother would sometimes say to me, “Speech is silver; silence is golden”. She needed some “Quiet Time”. Many of us need more Quiet Time in today’s noisy world; because the noise is ever present. In today’s busy, noisy world, silence is truly golden. As with many, it’s also a practical gift… to give to yourself and it’s important to your health.
Silence can be very beneficial for your brain and your body. Noise pollution is something we all experience far more than we want: honking horns, loud trucks, TV and radio news, podcasts with streaming music, sirens, barking dogs…..when does it ever end? We live in a loud and distracting world. Noise comes from every direction. Silence in increasingly hard to come by and that may be negatively affecting your health.
The constant noise of our world can drain our brain and deplete our energy, causing us to become distracted and mentally fatigued, making it difficult to come up with new ideas. Loud noises raise stress levels and cause the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. Did you realize that noise pollution leads to high blood pressure and heart attacks, as well as impairing hearing and overall health?
Silence has the opposite effect; silence releases tension from the brain and body. Silence and stillness are even more relaxing than listening to “relaxing” music!
Did you realize that when you can get away from all the noise, the parts of your brain involved in high-order thinking, decision-making and problem-solving can restore themselves? In silence, you can break away from all the distractions of the world to experience the health benefits of daydreaming, meditating, fantasizing about the future or just letting your brain relax…. It’s good to relax that busy little brain on a regular basis! Silence is one way to do that. Scientists tell us that we can literally regenerate and grow new brain cells when we give ourselves a period of daily silence and stillness each day.
Try it and let me know how it goes for you.
