13 Reasons Why Silence And Solitude Are Good For You

In a world that is increasingly noisy, the opportunities for experiencing true silence are becoming more difficult to find. We are surrounded by people, and exposed to all manners of noise, so the expression “I can’t hear myself think”, becomes ever more relevant (even though it’s technically impossible anyway, of course).

And that’s more than a shame, because it turns out that there are many benefits to silence, which is what this article explores.

Better Sleep

Just as you should sleep in total darkness (something I touch on in this article), it’s also important for there to be as little noise as possible.

The quieter it is, the more likely it is that you will get to sleep faster and stay asleep for longer, without interruption.

Brain Growth

A study conducted in 2013 showed that silence can help new cells grow in your hippocampus. This area of your brain, which is part of the limbic system, is primarily responsible for memory, but may also be involved in navigation and spatial processing.

Because new cells are being created, this can slow down the rate at which your brain ages.

Calming

Silence can help you to gather your thoughts and calm down, making you better prepared for whatever activity you’re about to undertake.

Cognitive Processing

Noise has been shown to:

• Cause attention problems.
• Decrease productivity.
• Impair our ability to concentrate and focus.
• Increase error rates.
• Make it more difficult to read and retain information.
• Reduce motivation.
• Weaken our problem solving ability.

Silence, however, can help to undo some of these effects of noise.

Creativity

Spending time in your own thoughts (with no external distractions) can lead to those “aha” moments, when you come up with new ideas.

It apparently worked for both Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, so if it’s good enough for them, it’s probably good enough for the rest of us too.

You might like to read about Boketto, which is one technique for opening up your mind to the world around you as a way to stimulate your creative side.

Energy Efficiency

Being silent uses up less energy than when you are not silent, which means you can keep going for longer, because our energy supplies are, like the battery in your phone, not limitless.

Heart Health

Even as few as two minutes of silence is all it takes to reduce blood pressure, which in turn reduces your risk of heart problems.

Information Processing

It appears that the brain is never fully inactive – it uses period of “downtime” (e.g. silence) to process and evaluate information.

So, while it has long been theorized that this is one of the activities your brain undertakes while you are asleep, it now looks like it does this during quiet times and moments of self-reflection too.

Mindfulness

This is also known as being in the moment – being aware of (but not judging) your thoughts, your body and how it feels, and your immediate environment, but all of that is difficult to do when you are surrounded and distracted by noise.

Mindfulness is a form of meditation, which carries many benefits, and you can download a free report about it here (or if you’re already a member of Self Help Nirvana, you’ll also find it in the Members’ Library).

Pain Relief

This applies particularly to headaches and migraines, but also to muscle pains – silence seems to help the pain go away more quickly.

I remember when I used to get severe migraines (e.g. so bad they made me vomit) once or twice a year, the best way to deal with them, for me, was to lie down in a dark room in complete silence.

Patience

There are studies that concluded people who spend more of their time in silence tend to be more patient, which is a worthwhile trait in today’s busy, noisy world.

Self-Awareness

Spending time in silence (preferably alone) helps you to understand yourself better.

You will be able to engage in self-conversation (which is not the same as negative self-talk), discussing (with yourself) questions and problems that you would find difficult to do in a noisy environment.

Stress Reduction

Noise in general can create stress and tension in your body, regardless of whether you’re awake or asleep, and even though it may be at levels too low to cause hearing damage.

And that noise does not need to be very loud to cause anxiety, stress, or increase blood pressure – studies have shown that it can begin at levels as low as 30 decibels (dB).

If that number doesn’t mean much to you, and there’s no reason why it should, it’s equivalent to a totally quiet night in the desert.

By comparison, whispering usually clocks in at 40 dB, while regular conversation is around 60 dB.

At the upper end, eight hours of continuous exposure to noise at 85 dB can cause hearing damage. At 100 dB, it only takes 15 minutes, and at 110 dB, one minute is enough to create hearing problems.

So, 30 dB is much quieter than most of us experience throughout our days (and maybe even at night if you live in the city).

Silence, on the other hand, can help release all that stress and tension.

Conclusion

Looking at the above benefits of silence, you will note that there are two distinct aspects to it – the type of silence you experience when:

1. There is no external noise, which means there is less to distract you from what you should be doing (e.g. studying).
2. You are alone, which means you are better able to have your internal conversations and do some self-reflection.

Benefits come from both of these types of silence, of course.

So how much silence do you need?

The glib answer is, the more the better.

In practice, as few as five minutes per day can be beneficial, with 30 minutes being a reasonable balance between practicality and usefulness.

However, there are those who say we should all experience a full 24 hours of silence (and solitude) every so often, just to recharge. This is clearly not going to be possible for most people – can you imagine trying to keep your kids quiet for an entire day? – but I can now begin to imagine how helpful that might be, even though it may feel weird and uncomfortable at first.

Finally, it seems appropriate to end this article with one of my all-time favourite songs:

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Silence