Entertainment is a huge part of today’s society. Everyone loves to be entertained, and they are constantly trying to entertain themselves. Some do this through music, podcast, TV shoe’s, Movies, and videos, all things that entertain you by listening. Even when people sleep there is a fan on or therapeutic music to help them fall asleep. People are always listening, Now really think, when was the last time you sat in silence? 

Having periods of silence is actually important. Studies conducted by the Journal of Brain Structure and function found at least two hours of silence a day could create new cells in the hippocampus. The Hippocampus is the part of the brain that learns things and stores memories. Adding silence into your day can help you become a better student. You become more creative and productive. 

People get very overwhelmed with all the stuff going on in the world, it feels like the world is moving a million miles a minute. Silence can help you become more attuned to the real world instead of living in your head.  

A fantastic way to add silence to your life would be meditation. There is no right or wrong way to meditate, find a silent room, sit down, get comfortable, and let your mind wander. You can close your eyes or keep them open, but the most crucial step is to be in silence and let your mind wander. It is interesting to see where your mind wanders to, you can learn new things about yourself. Everyone learns something new every day and so many things happen throughout one day, and you need to give your brain time to process that through giving it silence. 

A big part of why people are always listening to something is because they do not want to face their own thoughts. Distracting yourself from your thoughts is unhealthy, you should listen to your mind and learn who you are. You need to face your problems and think about them instead of just pushing them away and not thinking about them by distracting yourself. 

Mental illness is huge in today’s world, and meditation can help with this too. Meditation frees the mind of stress and anxiety. https://www.banyanmentalhealth.com/2021/07/01/rise-in-mental-illness/ has these statistics on how mental illness continues to worsen. “

• Between 2017 and 2018, 19% of adults experienced a mental illness, an increase of 1.5 million adults with mental illnesses from the previous year.²
• Rates of depression increased by 52% between 2005 and 2017 among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years old.³
• Rates of depression increased by 63% between 2009 and 2017 in young adults aged 18 to 25 years old.³
• The rate of suicide-related thoughts and outcomes increased by 47% from 2008 to 2017 among young adults.³
• In 2019, there was an estimated 51.5 million adults (20.6%) aged 18 and older in the U.S. with AMI.⁴
• AMI was higher among U.S. females (24.5%) than males (16.3%) in 2019.⁴
• Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 had the highest prevalence of AMI (29.4%) compared to adults between the ages of 26 to 49 years (25%) and 50 and older (14.1%).⁴
• 13.1 million U.S. adults aged 18 and older had an SMI in 2019, making up 5.2% of all U.S. adults.⁴
• SMI was high among U.S. females (6.5%) than males (3.9%) in 2019.⁴
• In 2019, SMI was more prevalent among adults aged 18 to 25 years (8.6%) compared to adults aged 26 to 49 years (6.8%) and those aged 50 and older (2.9%) in 2019.^4″ 

Concentration is a big struggle for people now, meditation can help with that too. Have you ever read a page of a book and have no idea what you just read so you must reread it? This is an example of how we need to give our brains time to process, not in that exact moment but just an hour of silence a day would help give your brain time to relax and take everything in. You may think you are letting your brain get the rest it needs by lying in your bed with air pods in, but you are not. Your brain is still working even while listening to music. 

Periods of silence in your day do not only help your mental health but also your physical health. Silence can help lower your blood pressure, decrease your heart rate, steady your breathing, and reduce muscle tension. 

Adding in periods of silence in your day might not appeal to you but it will benefit you. It is hard to sit in silence when you first start, especially if you do not like to listen to your thoughts, but it will get easier the more you do it. Having periods of silence would be beneficial to anyone, try it. Your life might not change right away but as you keep going you will start to notice the slight changes it has made in your life.