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“Word is silver but silence is gold,” says the proverb. But in our modern societies, speech occupies a primordial place. This is why some people try “speech fasting”, a sort of “speech fast”, to benefit from the many virtues of silence.
Scottish singer Lulu is one of the proponents of “speech fasting”. She has gotten into the habit of not making the slightest sound during the hours preceding one of her performances on stage. “[Ça m’aide] to take care of my vocal instrument. It allows me to sing“, she told the Guardian.
The idea of walling yourself off in silence, even for a few hours, may seem surprising. For good reason, silence has become a rare commodity. We live in an increasingly noisy world, without us necessarily realizing it. The periods of confinement, put in place to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, have made city dwellers aware of the noise pollution to which they are exposed in their daily lives. However, many people think that they can get used to it without too much damage.
But this is not the case. Long-term exposure to noise at high levels can harm physical and mental health. In addition to hearing loss, noise pollution can promote the onset of cardiovascular diseases (high blood pressure and myocardial infarction) and sleep disorders. In addition, noise triggers the secretion of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which disrupts the body.
Good in his body, good in his head!
Silence, this great ally for health
Conversely, neuroscientists have discovered many benefits of silence. Quiet time can reduce blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone levels. A study, published in 2013 in the journal Brain Structure and Function, showed that adult mice exposed to two hours of silence per day developed new cells in the hippocampus, this region of the brain involved in memorization. Rodents exposed to noise did not see their neurons develop.
If silence offers so many benefits, how can we explain why some people flee it? This is because the absence of noise can be disturbing, especially for anxious people who often need stimulation to calm their fears. Noise pollution keeps us on alert, unlike true silence which allows our brain and body to regenerate. But this regeneration process involves a certain form of stillness, which can be taxing.
American psychology professor Timothy Wilson and his colleagues at the University of Virginia had some the proof in 2014, when they asked volunteers to sit, doing nothing, for around ten minutes in a completely empty room. The researchers provided them with small devices allowing them to self-inflict electrical microstimulations, which are relatively painless. It appeared that a large number of participants administered at least one electric shock to themselves to pass the time and not listen to their own thoughts.
We must train ourselves to tame this little inner voice so that moments of silence are no longer experienced as boring, but as a luxury that we offer ourselves. Speech fasting can help us with this, as can mindful meditation, silent walking or visiting quiet parks. Whatever method you choose, confronting silence is good.