This week I spent some quality time on a warm, sunny beach. I watched surfers of all ages catching waves and kids jumping in and out of the sparkly surf, laughing and running around. I saw adults content to sit and relax for hours. I felt so peaceful digging my toes into the sand in front of my beach chair while chit-chatting with friends about mundane things. I felt far, far away from the hectic pace of work and the kids’ endless activities. Being a curious person, I needed to find out why this phenomena happens. Why do people who have no problem flipping me the bird if I wait too long at a stop sign suddenly seem so zen on a beach?
Research shows it’s the noise.
According to Wikipedia, “Noise health effects are the health consequences of elevated sound levels. Elevated workplace or other noise can cause hearing impairment, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, annoyance, and sleep disturbance. Changes in the immune system and birth defects have been attributred to noise exposure.
“Beyond these effects, elevated noise levels can cause stress, increase workplace accident rates, as well as stimulating aggression and other anti-social behaviors.
“There may be psychological definitions of noise as well. Firecrackers may upset domestic and wild animals or noise-traumatized individuals. The most common noise-traumatized persons are those exposed to military conflicts, but often loud groups of people can trigger complaints and other behaviors about noise. Infants are easily startled by noise.”
So what is this noise, you ask, that makes people calmer at the beach?
Answer: the waves. Literally and figuratively.
The sound of the surf creates slower brain waves. Some have said that the rhythm of ocean waves mimics that of a human’s heart at rest. One gets in sync, slows down and ahhhhhhhh. Others have likened the sound of waves hitting the surf to how a mother’s heart sounds when the baby is in the womb. It’s relaxing for many reasons.
You see, the millions of neurons in your brain use electricity to communicate with each other. They send signals all at once, which creates a large amount of electrical activity in your brain. This is called a brainwave pattern – called a “wave” pattern because of its cyclic, wave-like nature.
Most of us live the majority of our lives in a state of aroused, alert, concentrated but also somewhat stressed brainwaves.
When we lower our brainwave frequency, we can put ourselves in an ideal condition to learn new information, perform more elaborate tasks, learn languages, analyze complex situations and even be in what sports psychologists call “the zone.” “The zone” is a state of improved focus and performance in athletic competitions or exercise. The slightly decreased electrical activity in the brain can lead to significant increases in feel-good brain chemicals, such as endorphins, norepinephrine and dopamine.
As Ben Greenfield states in his fitness blog, “when you meditate, you are focusing on something, whether it’s a candle flame or your breath going in or out, or a mantra or prayer. When you focus like that, the electrical patterns in your brain slow down and relax, and the amplitude of your brain-waves generally stabilizes in the alpha wave range.”
According to Julian Treasure, there are four ways that noise or sounds in general affect us. Take a moment to listen to his explanation here.
He makes some valid points.
Dr. Tomatis, a French physician and auditory neurophysiologist, believed our ear drives and affects our entire nervous system. And depending on what we are listening to, music or otherwise, will dictate our energy level and sense of well-being. He studied monks in France and found that when the monks’ chanting was taken away, most fell ill.
In his book, The Mozart Effect, Don Campbell found listening to Mozart boosted brain capacity, focus and spatial reasoning.
Dr. Joy Madden has also reported that, “Studies have shown that noise can affect the taste of food – the flavor and the texture. For example, in one study subjects were given sweet foods (biscuits) and salty foods (crisps) while they listened to silence or noise through headphones. It was found that in noise, foods tasted less salty, less sweet and less crunchy.
“In this study, it was concluded that background noise appears to dampen your taste buds. In fact, some studies suggest that this could be why airline food tastes bland, because of the high levels of background noise in the cabin.”
So, noise can be good. Especially noise from the waves, because it can create slower brain waves, if you get what I’m saying.
And I would even suggest downloading a wave soundtrack to listen to while studying. It might just help you achieve laser focus! Try this one out!
uscistudentblog2.wordpress.com 