Living in the remote depths of rural Finland, Nora Vikman is aware of the irony surrounding her career as a sound specialist.
However this unlikely combination made the ideal person to become a consultant to the Finnish tourism board.
They were struggling to come up with ideas to translate the countries benefits to visitors and needed a unique angle to promote.
Although it’s a beautiful place, they knew that Finland wasn’t exactly the most exciting and vibrant destination on earth.
Credit: visitfinland.com
During a brainstorming session, a marketer had suggested Silence as being the theme, and once the laughing had settled, the team started to realize that there could actually be something to the idea of promoting silence.
It was the opposite message to what most countries promoted and they realized that in a world full of noise, silence is a very beneficial asset which they could market.
Nora helped create the Silence Please campaign, which has gone on to generate massive public interest from busy tourists looking for a more relaxing travel experience.
Almost by accident, the Finns had provided a solution for one of the most chronic and stress creating problems modern that society faces, constant low level noise.
Credit: visitfinland.com
Constant Noise = Constant stress
In 2007, scientists from the University of London (UoL) published groundbreaking research which estimated that over 210,000 deaths occur each year in Europe as the direct result of low level noise.
By combining many studies together they noticed a disturbing trend. The levels of noise required to cause problems was quite low and almost normal in most people’s daily life.
The UoL researchers found that noise, particularly while you slept, activated the bodies stress response.
Over a long period of time, this increased levels of stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, leading to hypertension, stroke, heart failure, and immune problems.
Further studies also showed long term decreases in Iron levels and Vitamin B1 from this chronic stress.
Credit: Environmental Health Perspectives
How much silence are you getting in your life?
Finding quiet time is becoming more and more difficult throughout a day, particularly in urban areas where every city or suburb is a hive of activity.
Constant low level noise is directly linked to chronic stress and highlights the incredible, and essential benefits of introducing quiet into our lives.
This shouldn’t be a surprise as the sense of hearing is our primary warning and communications organ, being 10 times more sensitive than the eye to altering us to dangers.
So how does your body respond to noise while you sleep?
Your brains sound processing system is closely linked to the HPA Axis which controls your stress response.
Although the linking of sound to your stress response can cause problems when constantly stimulated, it serves a distinct purpose for your everyday survival.
When your ancestors were walking the lush African plains 100,000 years ago, the sound-stress axis would help you recognize the noise of a snake in the grass.
Nowadays, when you hear a car coming while crossing the road, the sound-stress axis kicks in to gear to alert you to jump out of the way.
Credit – Wikipedia
The connection between sound and stress is essential to daily survival
But when this system is constantly turned on, the long term stress hormone production begins to have profoundly negative effect on your health.
25 years of Analysis confirms the sound levels that cause the stress response.
The UoL research was backed up by German researcher Hartmut Ising who reviewed over 25 years of noise study data to find out how loud sounds need to be to provoke a stress response.
He estimated that sounds above 55 Decibels are enough to provoke a stress response.
This is the same level of noise created by local road traffic, an air conditioning unit in a room or a plane flying overhead.
Credit : leanman.hubpages.com
How many low level noise events causes a problem?
You don’t notice the biological effects of low level noise while asleep, it’s an automatic reaction that’s unconsciously monitoring for danger.
And even worse, as you become used to the sounds around you, your body gradually adapts to their presence, regardless of the negative stress effect it has on you.
Only 11 noise events, at 55 decibels, during an 8 hour sleep was enough to register significant increases in stress hormones while people slept. But the louder the noise, the less events were required to cause problems.
Credit – Spreng et al.
“Silence is golden”
In the past few years some very real benefits of silence are starting to be recognized.
In 2006, Italian Dr Luciano Bernardi, stumbled across the benefits of silence while trying to find out the effect different types of music had on mood.
He mixed fast and up tempo music, with slow meditative style relaxing music. But most importantly, in between the songs there was a silent break.
As expected, the slower and more relaxed style of music was more calming than the up tempo. But they both still aroused a small degree of attention in the subjects.
Surprisingly, the most profound positive effects on relaxing the brain occurred during the silent break.
Bernardi found that because all forms of listening require attention, silence is really the only time the brain attends to being in a complete state of relaxation.
Silence as an effective form of brain training.
In 2013, scientists at Duke University found that during a period of silence, young mice’s brain responded positively to quiet states.
They concluded that 2 hours of silence per day produced very noticeable positive change in the Hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with memory and senses.
Silence increased attention and focus by tuning your brain to be more sensitive to environmental changes, this also seemed put your stress response on pause and gave it much needed break from potential danger.
The quest for Silence and what you can do about it.
So noise has been proven to cause damage to your long term health, particularly when you sleep, so what options do you have that will help you cope?
We’ve created a list of some simple solutions that will reduce noise fast.
A basic pair of foam ear plugs can reduce external noise from the problematic 50+ Decibels down to a very tolerable and healthy 40 Decibels. Considering you can purchase comfortable ear plugs in almost any pharmacy for a very low price, this should be your first option.
Although the quality can vary, noise reducing curtains can be effective at reducing low level outdoor noise to a level where it doesn’t activate your stress response.
- Sound proof your fences and your house.
Acoustiblok products were developed through a NASA research program and are incredibly effective at reducing all types of noise around your house. They can turn any garden into an oasis of tranquility.
- Turn off appliances
Air conditioning units, radios and T.V’s can have a dramatic effect on reducing noise. Electronic devices on standby can also emit high frequency sounds that are hard to hear but can disturb sleeping patterns.
A simple fix, this cheap foam is great for taking the edge off low level noises like road traffic and sounds from loud neighbours.
By improving your bedroom to reduce noise, you will be able to dramatically reduce the amount of stress that you experience. But most importantly, it will also give you more energy and patience when tackling stresses during the day.
Have you experience with noise causing stress? Or have any other methods helped you to improve noise reduction? If so let us know in the comments.
