Health and Wellness: The Benefits of Silence

Sometimes "shutting down" can be one of the best things you can do for yourself. When it comes to health and wellness, the benefits of silence, in this case using simple meditation or relaxation techniques can do much to recharge your physical and mental batteries.

I don't want to get too deep in to the whole meditation thing - too often people hear the word "meditation" and they get hung up on images of incense and mountain tops and who knows what else. Certainly there's nothing wrong with that, but in this case the principals of meditation best sum up what I'm driving at: in its simplest form meditation involves nothing more than sitting in a relaxed position and clearing your mind. Some individuals focus on a certain sound, others like myself try to focus on breathing. Whatever works for you, remember to give yourself anywhere from 5-20 distraction-free minutes to spend.

Like I said, I prefer to focus more on silence. Whether you're in your office or just at home typing away usually you can find a noise-free space. Although - according to womenfitness.net -- more practiced meditators can do it anywhere.

You woudn't think there's an art to breathing correctly but to get the most benefit you need to breath deeply and slowly. The site learn-to-breath-energy.com explains a technique called "connected breathing" in which there is no pause between inhaling and exhaling deeply. Try it out on your next break.

It's important to point out the difference between relaxing and meditating and sleeping. Unless you're familiar with taking a power-nap during the day, a few minutes of slience will help you in the same way. The site relax.lightreport.org has a variety of free step-by-step exercises (actually podcasts) that can teach you how to relax and understand the benefits of silence.

According to a great article on healthline.com http://www.healthline.com/sw/wl-too-tense-learn-to-relax Breath observation can take many forms, including learning how to breathe in specific patterns. Many people find trained breathing a little difficult at first, so keep focused on the basics: are your breaths even and are you breathing slowly and evenly? Make sure you are lying or sitting in a comfortable spot and remember for starters keep the ambient sounds turned off.

Silence has its virtues and just learning to focus on the lack of sound can dramatically lower your stress levels.