THEthe silence contains all the words we haven’t said and that we would or would not like to pronounce. He enjoys the superiority that the possible has over the real. Tell us the phrases we hadn’t heard, the thoughts we wouldn’t have thought.
The seekers and seekers of silence are increasing as the roars of engines, the ringtones of cell phones, the shouting of people grow in the world, under a sky pierced by planes. At that time you want absence, disconnection while everyone is increasingly connected, what in art is the atmosphere of a still life, which in music is the pause in the score, when the ear remains in the suspension of the sound.
In search of serenity
The Greeks associated silence with serenity and perhaps therefore, in a chaotic society, with chronic stress above danger levels, it seems that escape from background noise contains every solution. You walk in the woods, you go on a retreat to meditate, never before have you embraced the life of monasteries and abbeys, without smartphones, without TV.
A silent environment helps you reconnect to your inner dimension (photo Getty Images).
The Convent of San Francesco del Deserto, on an island in the heart of the Venetian lagoon that can only be reached on one of the friars’ boats, is an example. Just go to the site hospitalitareligiosa.it and enter the key phrase “experiences of silence” in the reasons for stay box to find further information 230 establishments offering full boardlike it Château Verdun in Sant-Oyenowned by the diocese of Aosta, and the Missionary oblate college in Rho, just outside Milan.
The damage of noise pollution
Beyond spiritual or psychological needs, Getting away from the noise is a balm for the body. The European Environment Agency has declared that noise pollution, and not just air pollution, is harmful to public health.
As reported by theHarvard Medicine magazineit is estimated that in Europe chronic exposure to noisein addition to disturbing the sleep of six and a half million people, contributes to 48 thousand new cases of heart disease every year.
A recent study showed that Road traffic noise, in the long run, is enough alone to increase the risk of hypertension (in the scientific journal specialized in cardiovascular health JACC2023).
Jing Huang, a Chinese environmental health scientist at Peking University, analyzed the data of 240 thousand people between the ages of 40 and 69 extracted from a British research database (UK Biobank) and described the association between horns, engines, sirens and a greater incidence of high blood pressure.
The noise and high blood pressure
We wonder what the relationship is that links noise pollution to cardiovascular risk. «Excessive and continuous noise produces an increase in the levels of stress hormones in the body» explains Giulio Pompilio, scientific director of the Monzino Cardiology Center in Milan.
«Cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine in turn influence the immune system and the nervous system. In relation to the heart, effects may include increased heart rate, increased platelet reactivity and vascular inflammation.”
Recent research conducted in the United States shows that lowering noise pollution by just five decibels could reduce the onset of hypertension by 1.4 percent and cardiovascular problems by 1.8 percent. Researchers and clinicians add that deafening sounds and background noise can damage hearing and create mental fatigue.
What the law says
The Italian legislation, on paper, offers protection against noise. For example, it provides that trains run away from population centers and that, if not, steps must be taken to install sound-insulating barriers. But it is enough to spend a few days of holiday on our coasts, where the tracks often overlook the houses a stone’s throw from the sea, to realize that in many areas of Italy there are no adequate noise reduction systems.
There are laws to keep decibels under control, the point is that they are often disregardedas demonstrated by the neighborhoods close to airports or motorways.
When the noise comes from shops, industries, bars and restaurants, you can submit a complaint to the Municipality which intervenes to measure the extent of the noise emission and take any measures. It is more difficult to find a peaceful niche if you live in an area loved by nightlife.
Be silent to listen to yourself
We seek silence to get away from the noise outside but also from the chaos of our own mind, like a deep breath that calms our anxieties. In this sense, eliminating the sound tapestry of days in the office or at home is a path that leads back to oneself.
In the void that now seems like an anomaly to us, we can turn to ourselves and listen to what we have to say. Be silent to «collect happy, sad, sweet, bitter thoughts», as Alda Merini writes“there are many inside each of us.”
The sound of silence Silence is not nothingness. It can be another type of communication and it has a sound, just like The Sound of Silence, the title of perhaps Simon & Garfunkel’s most famous song.
The experiments at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have proven this, resulting in a work just published (see Pnas2023). Scientists wanted to understand if we perceive silence. Or rather: does the mind treat silence the same way it treats sounds? The researchers used a series of sound illusion tests and they came to the conclusion that yes, people hear silence: it is not an interval or a cognitive reprocessing. The voice of silenceto quote another song, this time Italian, composed by Mogol and Paolo Limiti.
Sensory detox
The need for sensory detoxification is growing. Being in the middle of nature, without digital beeps, without office buzz. A sort of hearing rest, to disconnect from electronics, from phone notifications and from all the hisses of progress that end up tiring us.
A stop to the overwhelm of the senses, when the pandemonium of the world has reached its peak. And “the rest is silence”, as Shakespeare makes Hamlet say at the end of the tragedy. Silence.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and science communicator. On iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you can find his podcast series The good that I want.
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