Your Brain Chemistry Changes After Just Three Days of Silence

We tend to think of silence as empty space. The absence of sound. But, it turns out that quiet isn’t passive at all. In fact, after just three days of intentional silence, the brain begins to physically and functionally rewire itself.

A growing body of neuroscience shows that silence can spark changes in the brain comparable to months of meditation, cognitive training, or rigorous exercise. These changes don’t take long to show up, either. They begin after about 72 hours of cumulative quiet.

One of the most surprising discoveries centers on the hippocampus, the part of the brain that governs memory. Scientists found that after three days of sustained silence, participants showed measurable growth of new brain cells in this region.

This kind of neurogenesis was previously thought to require long-term interventions. But, for people regularly exposed to noise, the effect was even more dramatic, suggesting those most stressed by sound may benefit the most from the changes silence drives in the brain.