Choose silence for a healthier 2017

We've been silent for a month here on the Balancore pages. I know you've missed our updates, but this not been by accident!

The benefits of silence have been recently reviewed (see this great Nautilus article from last year "This is Your Brain on Silence") and can be summarised as follows:

- Silence induces brain activity as much as relaxing music - a study conducted by Scholl et al. (2010) around the brain's activation to different types of music identified that the silent pauses between musical tracks were generating as much stimulus as the music itself (read the study here).

- Silence over a long period (e.g. around 7 days) can actually induce the growth of specific brain cells associated with reduced neurodegeneration called Sox-2 cells (read about Sox-2 deficiency impacting neurodegeneration here).

- Silence can reduce stress levels. Even a faint, consistent noise such as a windfarm can increase stress levels by more than 250% (Knopper et al. 2014). Whilst there are over 60 scientific, peer reviewed articles on the health effects of windfarms linking back to noise, I think this study on badgers sums it up (read it here)

- Silence may reduce weight gain potential. Not only through reducing cortisol (the stress hormone that increases weight gain potential), but also on its ability to induce sleep deprivation, reducing energy expenditure and increasing weight gain (read this recent study here)

So, the next time you're working with your headphones on, or with people buzzing around you, it may help to choose silence. Move into an empty room or turn the music off and feel your brain expand...