Many people like to work or play with background music from a radio or their favourite Spotify playlist. However, studies show that this may be making tasks more complicated and time-consuming, and even preventing a creative breakthrough.
Silence offers benefits such as better concentration, increased creativity, improved communication skills, stronger relationships, and profound thoughts.
Yet, many of us do not embrace silence very well. But learning to sit in stillness and self-reflect is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and our children, fostering the ability to communicate at a deeper level by delving into our value system and wants and needs.
Some suggests that a few minutes of regular silence is more beneficial to the human stress response than less frequent but longer periods of silence. The list of health benefits of silence include lowering blood pressure, reducing cortisol, stimulating creativity, tempering insomnia, encouraging mindfulness, and slowing racing thoughts.
In recent years, scientists have been studying silence and its impact on people. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2020 uses a series of studies that included “several minutes of silence” in different contexts, which showed that silence is effective in therapeutic and educational contexts to promote relaxation and wellbeing. Participants in a seminar room who were told to occupy themselves with their thoughts and wait alone for 6.5 minutes reported feeling significantly more relaxed, in a better mood, and less aroused afterward than before. More than half of the participants thought about the present while waiting, while 19% were thinking of the past, and 27% were thinking about the future.
As Erik Anderson from the Department of Philosophy at Drew University said, "Silence is replete with aesthetic character, making it a rewarding object of aesthetic appreciation, assessment, and appraisal."
So why not put away your phone every once in a while when it is quiet or when alone to increase silence and reap its benefits. By putting down our phones and embracing stillness, we can improve our mental and physical health and enhance our overall wellbeing.
MyTreat provides you timely treats through monthly self-care subscription boxes designed to prioritise your mental wellbeing and easily carve out some silent me-time sessions. These boxes also make an excellent gift for someone who could use a little extra care and support.