Quick Take
An Instagram post referred to a study to claim that a few hours of silence per day promotes cell development in the brain. We fact-checked and found the claim to be Mostly False.
The Claim
An Instagram post claims, “A study found that 2 hours of silence per day promotes cell development in the hippocampus region of the brain, where memories are found” written with an image of a woman sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose.
Fact Check
What is the hippocampus?
Hippocampus is a part of the brain that influences learning and memory. A damaged hippocampus can affect the ability to form new memories or remember things.
Can remaining silent for a few hours per day promote cell growth in the human brain?
Not exactly. We could not find any research that confirms remaining silent for a few hours per day promotes cell growth in the human brain. However, we could find research published in Springer that studied the effect of silence on mice. This (2015) study shows an increase in the number of nerve cells in mice when kept in silence.
Besides this, various studies in the past have shown that sound can activate the hippocampus region of the brain to generate a response. Scant evidence is available that studies the effect of silence on the human brain. A study published in Hindawi has analysed the effect of silence in the form of meditation on the hippocampus. This (2020) study shows that meditation can cause cortical-thickening in the hippocampus to improve learning and memory. However, we could not find any research paper that directly linked meditation with cell development in the brain.
Another study has shown that chronic stress reduces nerve cell development in the brain. We can only hypothesise that chronic stress due to noise reduces nerve cell development in the human brain.
Hence, the idea of silence affecting the human brain is only based upon the theoretical understanding of researchers. Further studies are needed to establish that remaining silent for a few hours per day can increase cell development in the human brain.
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