What Five Minutes Of Silence Can Do For Your Brain
Sometimes five minutes of silence is enough to regain calm, balance and see things as they are. Just a brief moment of peace away from the noise and the conversations that never stop and suddenly our brains start working on another level. So, as several studies reveal, humans also need silence to create new connections and brain cells.
The subject is certainly more than interesting. We have all, in a way, felt that enjoying a chosen time of silence is an act of great therapeutic power. We say “chosen” because if there is one thing that various experiments have also shown, it is that subjecting human beings to a state of complete isolation and rigorous silence for days or weeks has often harmful effects.
Humans are social beings and we need interaction and stimulating environments to live and grow. Now, just as we need these places inhabited by dialogue, music and the buzz of sociability, our brains also need their moments of silence. And it’s not a whim, it’s a physiological need. Just like eating or sleeping.
In fact, one could say, almost without fear of being mistaken, that between the different levels of Maslow’s pyramid of needs, there should be a silence between the most basic connections.
Five minutes of silence to change your brain
Can five minutes of silence really have so many benefits? The reality is, it is, and it’s not us saying it, nor any personal growth guru. A study published in the journal “ Brain, Structure and Function ” reveals this. The neuroscience of silence in the age of noise is becoming more and more important, to the point that tourism aimed at facilitating contact with this dimension is proliferating more and more.
The famous “silent retreats” are already combined with these tourist packages to countries like Finland, places that have ideal environments for us to embrace that stillness, that absence of noise, sounds and urbanity. However, before we get carried away by these proposals, we must apply logic. You don’t have to go very far to give your brain this gift.
Silence helps us develop new brain cells
We live in a world saturated with decibels. TV, our favorite bands playing in our headphones as we walk the streets, traffic, conversations, music in stores and supermarkets… We live in cities where silence does not exist, where sound shapes life and our consumption.
Now, if we could enjoy five minutes of complete silence a day, several things would happen. One of them is that new cells would grow in the hippocampus. This area of the brain is linked to our memory and our emotions. The second is that these cells would allow us to think more clearly and to connect better to our environment and to ourselves.
Silence improves our sensitivity and empathy
It is an interesting fact. As we already know, there are many areas of the brain associated with emotional sensitivity and empathy. One of them is undoubtedly the right supramarginal convolution. So, and this is one thing that has been observed, is that when this area is damaged or has little interconnection, our empathy is reduced. In addition, we become slower to make decisions and we show less interest in what surrounds us.
Enjoying moments of peace or allowing yourself five minutes of silence a day improves the activity of the right supramargineal convolution of our brain. As a result, our ability to be emotional and empathetic is enhanced.
Less stress, for better decisions
When our environment is overloaded with noise, the cerebral amygdala is activated. This small structure is like our danger and threat detector, which interprets that there is a risk around us and that we must flee. So, and as striking as it may sound, loud noises or even the mere rumor of traffic is something annoying for this area, something we can defend ourselves against. It therefore generates a stress response by stimulating the release of cortisol.
This way, we can already feel what it can mean to give ourselves five minutes of silence. As a study published in the American Psychological Association found , silence isn’t just a great way to reduce stress. Thanks to it, we release serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin …
In addition, it improves our sense of well-being and with it, we feel more confident and focused when making decisions. We also cannot overlook its positive effect on our cognitive processes. Memory is strengthened, attention is better focused, information is processed faster and our consciousness is “awake”. We feel more connected to the present and prepared for all that it can bring.
To conclude, as Friedrich Nietzsche said, “ The way to all great things passes through silence “. So let us go through it more frequently. Let’s learn how to turn off the button of our troubled outer worlds from time to time for a walk in our inner universes. When we come out of them, we won’t be the same.
Our thoughts More than a habit is fun. Reading before sleep frees us from a day’s worry. This is a private moment where we immerse ourselves in …
