QuietudeWhy quiet helps
Three findings Quietude is built on, as shown in the app. Quietude is a wellness and focus tool, not a medical device.
of silence lowered heart rate, blood pressure and breathing below resting levels.
In a study of 24 adults, 12 of them musicians, six styles of music were played with random two-minute pauses. The pauses lowered heart rate, blood pressure and minute ventilation, even below the baseline at rest.
Bernardi L, Porta C, Sleight P. Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence. Heart 2006;92(4):445–452. doi:10.1136/hrt.2005.064600
outside your window at night is the level the WHO recommends for health.
The guideline value is 40 dB Lnight,outside: the yearly average outside the facade over eight night hours. Below it, no harmful effects were observed, even in vulnerable groups. 55 dB is an interim target.
WHO Regional Office for Europe. Night Noise Guidelines for Europe. Copenhagen, 2009. WHO IRIS 10665/326486
of silence a day grew new brain cells in mice.
This is a study on mice, not on people. In adult female mice, two hours a day of silence gave the most lasting gain of new cells in the hippocampus after seven days, and these cells became neurons. What it means for humans has not been shown.
Kirste I, et al. Is silence golden? Effects of auditory stimuli and their absence on adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Brain Struct Funct 2015;220(2):1221–1228. doi:10.1007/s00429-013-0679-3