Noise impacts our brain, even when we are asleep. Strange as it may sound, it is true. Our brain remains awake throughout the day, keeping our sensing powers alert as well. The ear, being extremely sensitive, collects sound from nearby traffic, subway, a plane or a late-night party, and sends the signals to the glands that control the secretion of stress hormones and blood’s biochemistry. That can result in interrupted sleep, tiredness, headaches, weak memory, and impaired creativity among other discomforts. Imagine the plight of people living near the airports, subways, or busy roadways, who have no idea of such dire circumstances they live in. They may take sleeping pills or visit a psychiatrist, but if they don’t remove the root-cause from the equation, what will they solve anyway?
The consequences of noise have more damaging effects on children than they have on adults. Gary W Evans, a professor of human ecology at Cornell University observed that children, studying in schools near airports or railway stations, often lose their ability to tell the difference between noise and sound, after their brain develops a stress response for all kinds of clamour. Children are also seen losing their ability to read, learn, and memorise problems. Although various governments have relocated the airports away from the schools and colleges, the threat of noise still looms large over us all.
What can we do to make our children’s and our lives quieter and more peaceful? Perhaps, Finland’s Tourist Board has an answer. A few years ago, the tourist board of Finland ran a silence campaign to lure tourists from across the world. They compiled scenic photographs of nature with the slogan “Silence, Please”. Eva Kiviranta, the social media manager for VisitFinland.com said, “We decided, instead of saying that it’s really empty and really quiet and nobody is talking about anything here, let’s embrace it and make it a good thing.” The Finland board of tourism was right in choosing silence as the theme as that was the basic need of many tourists.
Silence and noise work in opposite directions. While long exposure to noise releases stress hormones, silence soothes the brain and calms us, in fact, even more than relaxing music. A silent environment prompts cell development in the hippocampus, the region related to the formation of memory, according to a joint research conducted by experts from various universities.
Recreating your lifestyle around silence can help you avoid the harmful effects of noise. The idea is to maintain the balance between noise and silence. That can be done when we become aware of both in our environment, take action to eliminate the noise and indulge in some quiet time every now and then. But, how can we cancel out the everyday noise? By enforcing better regulations and raising awareness about the harmful effects of noise pollution, to start with. We could follow it up with planting more trees that not only absorb noise but also improve the air we inhale. Once people are cognizant of the ill-effects of noise, it’s a matter of determination, self-control, and sensitivity that can help eliminate noise and save ourselves from the silent killer.
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