{"id":73,"date":"2014-04-03T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T21:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=73"},"modified":"2015-04-19T17:09:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T15:09:21","slug":"silence-is-golden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/silence-is-golden\/","title":{"rendered":"Silence is golden"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the best things about waking up early is the lack of activity around you. The world is yours. Lie in bed and just listen to the silence; it’s so relaxing! Nothing but an occasional gust of wind<\/span> caressing<\/span> the trees outside, a lone<\/span> bird calling to his friends, or the gentle sound of rain on the patio<\/span>.<\/p>\n

This is the best way to start the day, adding one small sound at a time \u2014 well, until the street sweeper<\/span> comes at 6:00. Until the traffic starts up at 6:30. Until the garbage truck shows up at 7. By then, the magic of the early morning is lost, and you might as well get up.<\/p>\n

Noise signals danger, making our brains produce stress hormones<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the natural world, loudness signals danger. It puts us on alert. Our brains produce stress hormones and adrenaline. Our defenses go up.<\/p>\n

In the modern world, noise is a leading cause of stress, and stress is a leading contributor to health problems. It even shortens our lifespans.<\/p>\n

For maybe 150 years, we’ve chosen to ignore this as the price of living in an industrialized society. Sure, a lot has been done to protect people from the loudest of sounds \u2014 workers using jackhammers<\/span>, people living next to railway lines and so on \u2014 but our everyday environment is still full of noise.<\/p>\n

Try to carry on a conversation next to a busy street and you’ll see just how loud ordinary cars are. A police or ambulance<\/span> siren is as loud as the loudspeaker at a rock concert.<\/p>\n