Sometimes, Relative Silence Isn’t Enough—We Need the Real Deal

Relative silence is typically as good as it gets in this always-on world of ours—unless we make a conscious effort to pursue the real thing.

Several months ago, during one of our long winter nights here in northern Minnesota, I stepped outside during a movie-like, gentle snowfall and found myself enveloped by nature’s epic version of noise-canceling headphones.

Enormous snowflakes not only turned the sky white; they drowned out every last bit of ambient sound around me too: street traffic, the nearby railroad tracks, the wind. All of it.

For a few delightful moments, I really was walking (or at least standing) in a winter wonderland.

One day a few summers ago, I was similarly treated to a snack of palpable quiet, if only briefly, when my family and I were kayaking on Lake Itasca, the source for the Mississippi River.

On a whim, we paddled our way out to a small island in the distance, battling a considerable headwind all the while.

When we arrived, though, we found ourselves in placid waters, away from every sound except that of our own voices.

The silence was jarring.

And on that beautiful sunny day, it was golden, too.

Silence You Can Hear

Every once in a while, you stumble upon true silence. Not the cheap knock-off brand of “silence” that we usually settle for, which typically constitutes nothing more than a 
relative lack of noise. I mean utter, total, absolute silence. The kind of silence you notice because it’s so rare and so jolting.

The kind of silence you hear.

As introverts especially, we need to do more than merely stumble upon this type of silence; we can’t leave it to chance.

We need to actively seek it out, despite the extra work that’s sometimes involved.

And if you’re convinced you can’t afford to take the time?

Well, science is increasingly telling us that we can’t afford not to.

Silence Sparks New Brain Cells

In 2013, the journal Brain Structure & Function published a fascinating article on a study in which mice were exposed to various types of noise—as well as to silence.

The researchers monitoring the effects on the mice’s brains were surprised by something that happened in what was intended to be the control group for the study: The mice that were exposed to two hours of total silence each day developed new brain cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is associated with memory as well as learning and emotion.

The researchers theorized that the mice experienced this unexpected cell growth because silence is such an oddity, especially in the world of animals.

“Silence … is highly atypical under wild conditions and must thus be perceived as alerting,” the researchers noted in the study:

“Functional imaging studies indicate that trying to hear in silence activates the auditory cortex, putting ‘the sound of silence,’ the absence of expected sound, at the same level with actual sounds. … The alert elicited by such unnatural silence might stimulate neurogenesis [brain cell growth] as preparation for future cognitive challenges.”

In other words, when you yourself are using total silence to rejuvenate as an introvert, you’re being more literal than you might have thought.

You may be growing new brain cells that will contribute to your overall health and happiness.

That’s more crucial than ever in today’s buzzing world, where constant background noise is so commonplace that the only time we notice it is when it disappears.

Perhaps that’s why a 2011 World Health Organization report essentially called noise pollution a modern-day plague.

But you don’t have to fall prey to it.

In fact, there are many simple things we all can do to prevent it—or cure it, as the case may be.

Go to the Silence

I have found that my own moments of silence in life almost always involve nature.

For me, purposefully pursuing total quiet involves taking a walk by the river or going on a hike in a forested area.

This, of course, might well be easier said than done if you live in a major urban area. But even then it is often entirely possible if you’re willing to go to where the quiet is.

A few years ago, for example, my family and I spent a fun but frenetic day in New York City. Where did we eventually find relief from all the noise?

In the shockingly calm Central Park.

Of course, you don’t necessarily have to be outside to cross paths with complete silence.

Author Katherine Hauswirth (The Book of Noticing, 2017), writing in the newsletter Winning Ways, talked about the “delicious silence” she enjoyed during a several-hour visit to the library of a Zen monastery:

“I could almost hear my synapses firing, and the many pages of notes I took were proof that the stacks held a welcome cache of inspiration.”

No Zen monastery nearby?

A regular old public library works just fine.

And with just a little intentional effort, so does your own home.

Intentionality Is the Key

You don’t need hours upon hours of total quiet, either. Indeed, if you’re like most people, you’re a) not a mouse, who b) has a spare two hours each day to sit in utter silence.

No problem.

You’ll find that mere minutes of true silence will do wonders for you.

And if you can sit still and take a few deep breaths while you’re at it, so much the better.

Because it’s the intentionality that matters here.

How you pursue total silence is irrelevant, as are where and even for how long.

That you pursue it—at least on occasion—is what counts.