Noise pollution is real.

Seriously. Have you ever gone in search of silence? How long did you have to look?

Did you ever find a noiseless place, without people chatting or laughing or talking too loudly on their phones? Unaccompanied by construction machines grinding or technology buzzing? Devoid of traffic noise, airplane thunder, or piped-in muzak playing constantly somewhere in the background?

It definitely takes some work for many of us to find an unpolluted piece of peace and quiet.

Even libraries aren’t what they used to be.

Some people have just decided to buy their own personal “mute buttons.” What’s a little cash to ensure protection from intrusive noise pollution and daily distraction? Noise-cancelling headphones, specialized earplugs, and meditation retreats sell big these days.

Something in us naturally seeks out silence.

Why? Science indicates that escape from noise pollution is actually a neurological need.

Noise pollution is more than a nuisance.

Several decades ago scientists began taking noise seriously.

Prior to the 1960s, there were some interesting ideas about the impact of noise on the care and recovery of patients in hospitals. However, it was not until the mid 20th century that science gave real credence to the idea of “noise pollution.”

More recent research reveals that constant exposure to noise is stressful, even toxic to the body. Sleep loss, heart trouble, tinnitus, and high blood pressure are all traced back to living life too out loud.

Even the World Health Organization agreed. In 2011, it asserted that 340 million residents of western Europe lost one million years of healthy living due to excessive noise every year!

For a long while, science turned its attention toward soothing sounds, like various types of music or nature as a possible remedy. But, almost by accident, they discovered how precious sessions of silence are to a brain bombarded by noise.

Don’t turn down the noise, turn it off.

While studying the effects of music on the brain in 2006, researcher Luciano Bernardi noted something interesting. The brain really liked the blank pauses inserted between the musical selections used in his study. The neurological response was so significant that silence became the focus of his work.

Here’s what he and subsequent researchers discovered:

• Silence is not irrelevant or simply neutral. It actively affects the brain and is more than just the absence of noise or noise pollution.

• Silence, by contrast, acts as a release from the constant need to pay attention that noise places on the brain. This aids deeper relaxation and stress relief, improving recovery from stress related illness.

• Silence, according to early mice research by Duke University biologist Imke Kirste, appears to be a promising way to encourage regeneration of cells in the hippocampus. This has important implications for memory and dementia research.

So again, noise pollution is real. And its impact on your brain is real.

Thankfully, silence really is golden as well. It’s a treasure for your brain. Often too rare a gift in this day and age. But take it where you can find it, and create it where you can. Why? Daniel A. Gross, the author of the Nautilus magazine article “This is Your Brain on Silence,” wrote it well:

“Freedom from noise and goal-directed tasks, it appears, unites the quiet without and within, allowing our conscious workspace to do its thing, to weave ourselves into the world, to discover where we fit in. That’s the power of silence.”

He’s right.

Silence, when you find it, will be much more than the absence of noise. It will be the time you need to free yourself, and your brain, from careful attention and constant stimulation.

Find and press your real-world mute button. Truly and deservedly, release and relax.