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Knowing when to use these two simple options can transform your life today.
The first option we could choose is silence. Silence can help our brain in more than one way. According
to Caroyln Gregoire, a senior Health and Science writer at The Huffington Post, silence can relieve stress
and tension and regenerate brain cells. Silence relieves our stress and tension by lowering our blood
pressure and blood circulation in the brain, which was proven in a 2006 study by L Bernardi, C Porta, and
P Sleight using 24 subjects presenting them with a random order of 6 different music styles and a
randomly inserted two minute pause. The period of silence induced a state of relaxation that was
greater than that of music. This could be helpful when we are faced with the anxiety of a big test or a big
decision that is causing you a lot of stress. As college students we all have different ways of dealing with
stress. So the real question is how does silence help your grades in college? Well I previously mentioned
that silence can regenerate our brain cells, which means that silence can actually lead to the growth of
the brain by renewing brain cells. A 2013 study on mice by Imke Kirste, of the Duke University Medical
Center, found that two hours of silence daily led to the development of new cells in the hippocampus
which is associated with learning, memory and emotion. Silence is good for the brain but it is also
beneficial to our well-being. Samuel McCree, a Mindful Fitness leader, personal trainer, and coach who
trained for two years at a Zen monastery, relays his experiences before and after his time being at a Zen
monastery. Silence transformed his life in 20 ways. 2 ways stood out to me the most, and one of them
was Courage. He used to think courage was about facing danger, but during his retreat he realized that
real courage is about facing yourself. The other way in which silence transformed his life was through
faith. He used to often ask for reassurance and feedback, but living in silence meant that he had to trust
his instincts. It taught him how to have faith in himself. Silence clearly has a few positives, so how can
silence have a negative effect on you.
The second option we could choose is to speak. Silence can lead to illness induced by loneliness.
The University of Chicago published an article on the link between feeling lonely and a less effective
immune response and increased inflammation. Loneliness can lead to a fight or flight stress signals
