Hello friend, sometimes five minutes of silence are enough to regain calm, balance, temperance. Just a brief moment of peace, away from the noise and the conversations that do not stop and suddenly, our brain begins to work at another level. Thus, as various studies reveal, the human being also needs silence to create new connections and brain cells.
5 minutes of silence helps the brain
The subject is undoubtedly more than interesting. Everyone, somehow, intuited that enjoying a moment of chosen silence is an act with great therapeutic power. We say "chosen" because if there is something that has also been shown by different experiments, it is necessary to subject the human being to a state of complete isolation and rigorous silence for days or weeks, often having adverse effects.
"The principle of wisdom is silence."
-Pythagoras-
People are social beings and we need interaction and environments full of stimuli to live, to grow. Now, just as we need those scenarios inhabited by dialogue, music and the rumor of sociability, our brain also craves its moments of silence. And it is not a whim, it is a physiological principle. How it can be to eat or sleep.
In fact, we could say, almost without fear of making mistakes, that between the different levels of Maslow's pyramid of needs should be the silence between the most basic links.
Five minutes of silence and your brain changes
Can five minutes of silence really have so many benefits? The reality is that yes, and we do not say it or any guru of personal growth. This is revealed by a study published in the journal "Brain, Structure and Function". The neuroscience of silence in the age of noise is having more and more weight and relevance, to the point that tourism is increasingly proliferating to facilitate contact with this dimension.
The famous "retreats of silence" are already combined with those tourist packages in countries such as Finland, places that have suitable environments for us to embrace completely to that quietness, to that absence of noise, sounds and urbanity. Now, before letting ourselves be carried away by these proposals, logic should be applied. It is not necessary to go far to make that gift to our brain.
Silence helps us to develop new brain cells
We live in a world saturated by the decibels. Television, our favorite groups playing in our headphones when we go down the street, traffic, conversations, music in stores and the supermarket ... We live in cities where silence does not exist, where sound rules life and our consumption.
Now, if we were able to enjoy five minutes of complete silence a day, several things would happen. One is that new cells would develop in the hippocampus. This brain area is related to our memory and emotions. The second is that these cells would allow us to think more clearly and connect better to our environment and to ourselves.
Improve our sensitivity and empathy
This data is interesting. 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 gyrus. Thus, and something that has been seen is that when this area is damaged or has a low interconnection our empathy is reduced. In addition, we become slower when making decisions and show less interest in what is around us.
Enjoying moments of peace or allowing five minutes of silence per day improves the activity of the right supramarginal gyrus of our brain. Consequently, our ability to get excited and empathize is enhanced.
Meditate helps relax the brain
Less stress, better decisions
When our environment has an excessive charge of noise, the amygdala is activated. This small structure is like our detector of danger and threats, she who interprets that there is a risk around us and that we must flee. So, and as striking as it may seem, loud sounds or even the simple rumor of traffic is somewhat annoying for this area, something to defend ourselves from. And therefore generates a stress response by stimulating the release of cortisol.
In this way, we can already guess what can be supposed to give us five minutes of silence. As a study published in the American Psychological Association reveals, silence is not only an excellent way to reduce stress. Thanks to him we released serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin ...
In addition, it improves our sense of well-being and with that, we perceive ourselves to be more confident and focused when making decisions. Nor can we ignore its positive effect on our cognitive processes. Memory is strengthened, we focus our attention better, we process information more quickly and our conscience is "awakened". We feel more connected to the present and prepared for what it can bring us.
To conclude, as Friedrich Nietzche said, "The road to all great things passes through silence". Let us therefore walk through it more frequently. Let us learn to turn off the button of our agitated outer worlds from time to time to give a needed walk through our inner universes. When we leave them, we will no longer be the same.
@joelgonz1982