an advocate for silence

The news is in – noise hurts.

“In recent years rigorous studies on the health consequences of noise have indicated that noise elevates heart rate, blood pressure, vasoconstriction and stress hormone levels, and increases risk for heart attacks. These reports prove that even when we’ve become mentally habituated to noise, the damage it does to our physiologies continues unchecked.”

Or so says George Prochni inThe New York Times in an op-ed piece regarding the dark side of what surrounds us 24/7.

Prochni is an advocate for silence. At least spates of quiet, the constant companion of our species throughout the eons. Until now. “The days when Thoreau could write of silence as ‘a universal refuge’ and ‘inviolable asylum’ are gone. With all our gadgetry punching up the volume at home, in entertainment zones and even places of worship, young people today often lack any haven for quiet.” Poetic, eh?

Next time you wander the aisles of your favorite super market, or sit strapped into the bucket of a dentist’s chair, or find yourself in one of America’s innumerable smokey bars (are there any smokey bars left out there?), listen up. Monsieur Prochni is onto something. You may think you’ve tuned out the constant crashing sounds of our uber-hip culture; but, of course, you haven’t.

The noise and the damage done….

posted by Mudd