Category: Uncategorized

---

Key Takeaways

• Silence supports brain development and neuroplasticity.
• Periods of silence trigger a measurable physiological reset.
• Silence builds resilience to stress and fatigue.
• Silence improves emotional regulation, better sleep quality, and psychological clarity.
• Quiet settings are essential for productivity and creative insight

---

I’m searching for a musician who is producing silence. Imagine if you can play some silence from a sound system, or a Bluetooth speaker, at the end of the day, or in the morning. Wouldn’t that be nice?

But how low do you have to go so it can be considered silence? In this game of sonic limbo, you don’t need to reach 0 dB to experience true quiet. As long as you perceive the environment as silent, it’s enough. A quiet bedroom usually measures around 30 dB. What about the most silent place on Earth – the infamous Anechoic chamber? It reaches -9 dB! But that is an artificial environment.

Silence is something we need, and if that is not intuitively obvious to you, first, I envy you, and second, you probably don’t work or live in a busy environment.

Why Silence Deserves Scientific Attention

Feeling stuck on how to begin this section while the garbage truck roars down the street is a direct example of how noise influences us. Silence is becoming more and more rare, as much as natural gold in nature. I would say it’s becoming a public health issue, but that would be too optimistic. It is not becoming. It has been for years.

In 2011, the World Health Organisation estimated that people in Western Europe lose 1 million healthy life years every year. That means that the cumulative time of being sick because of noise, split between the millions, and millions of people in that region, adds up to 1 million years. That estimation was made in 2011 based on limited data. And the world became noisier since then.

However grim this statistic may seem, at least the negative effects of noise are understood, and we naturally associate them with danger. Silence is paid much less attention, and its beneficial effects need to be better known.

Silence allows our active biological and psychological restorative mechanisms to activate. This has a direct correlation with:

• Improved brain function
• Emotional regulation
• Stress reduction
• Mental clarity

The Neurological Impact of Silence

Avoiding noise is one of the surest ways to reduce stress. There is more to silence than that, though. It actively supports brain health at a cellular and cognitive level.

Brain Growth and Repair

Silence can increase your appetite for cheese and help you grow a tail. Jokes aside, a study published in “Brain Structure and Function” by Imke Kirste in 2013 discovered how different auditory environments affect the formation of new neurons in mice.

The study had several control groups of mice exposed to two hours daily of:

• Silence – in a soundproofed chamber.
• White noise – stimuli with no emotional content for the mice.
• Mouse pup calls – the sounds young mice make. Emotionally relevant to the subjects.
• Classical music – a structured, non-threatening sound.

The rest of the time, they were kept in natural environments. All of the test groups exhibited some level of cell proliferation, but silence resulted in the most significant neurogenesis in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and emotional regulation. The ones exposed to silence were the only group that retained the new cell formations and managed to turn them into mature neurons.

We saw that silence is really helping the new generated cells to differentiate into neurons and integrate into the system.

– Imke Kirste, neuroscientist.

Humans, even though we like ourselves some camembert or gouda, are not mice. The exact way silence affects the hippocampus is still being studied, but the research suggests that silence promotes brain plasticity. Meaning the formation or regeneration of neurons, typically happening during active learning or physical exercise.

So spending time in silence can have the same effect on our brains as lifting weights or learning a new skill. It could be literally making you smarter. Huh… no wonder the archetype of the old wise monk is usually on top of a mountain.

Default Mode Network Activation

If your video game is lagging or the video is not loading, you may have problems with the network connection. But you’d better pray you don’t have problems with the Default Mode Network (DMN). When things are not happening and the brain is not stimulated much, it doesn’t shut down. Instead, it goes into this somewhat standby mode. This complex system of interacting brain regions is most active during wakeful rest. It is critical for:

• Self-reflection and introspection
• Memory consolidation
• Emotional regulation
• Creative insight

For the brain, the lack of stimuli means less information coming in through the senses. Less information = silence. In his foundational study, Marcus E. Raichle first identified the DMN by noting increased activity during “rest” periods in fMRI experiments.

The implication is that silence fuels the very processes that make us self-aware, emotionally balanced, and imaginative.

Cognitive Load Relief

The brain does things regardless of our desires or opinions. Like processing background information. We can choose to focus, but we still hear every sound and noise around us. It’s just unconscious. This constant workload, a.k.a. cognitive load, takes energy. The more energy we spend, the more fatigue builds up.

Silence provides a pause button. Without the need to filter or interpret external noise, brain regions involved in auditory processing can begin to rest.

Silence and Stress: A Physiological Reset

Nervous system? Ha… All my systems are nervous. Especially when exposed to noise. The autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that governs stress, recovery, and baseline organ function can respond to sound and noise, either bypassing the ears if the sound enters the body as a vibration alone, through the brain stem if there is a startling, sudden sound, or cumulatively as a response to daily exposure to noise.

We don’t even need to hear or pay attention to noise for it to affect us. And when there is a constant level of noise, be it from city traffic, construction, people, dogs, cats, lizards – silence gives a physiological window for rest and healing. Play loud music through a speaker in a hospital, and you will be quickly escorted out.

Activating the Parasympathetic Nervous System

Silence is a great sympathiser for the parasympathetic branch of the ANS, or more famously called the rest-and-digest system. Silence allows this system to activate, which in turn slows down the heart rate, dilates blood vessels, and reduces cortisol levels. All are essential for stress recovery.

A landmark study by Luciano Bernardi (2006) published in “Heart” explored the relationship between sound and silence. Human subjects were exposed to classical music tracks of varying tempo, mixed with silent pauses.

Notably, it was the silent intervals, not the slow music, that produced the most pronounced reductions in heart rate and respiratory rate: clear evidence that silence has a stronger calming effect than even soothing music. Not sure what the cheese situation was.

The blank pauses induced greater relaxation than the music itself.
– Luciano Bernardi, MD

Heart Rate Variability: A Window Into Recovery

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a marker that measures the beat-to-beat variation in heart rhythm. It can tell us how flexible is the nervous system is and how well it resists stress. Higher HRV reflects a healthy ability to adapt to environmental demands.

Multiple studies, including those of Bernardi (2006) and Zhou(2019), demonstrate that quiet environments measurably increase HRV.

Noise, Inflammation, and the Immune System

We should give noise more credit. It’s actually a pretty good villain. It not only causes stress and fatigue, but also chronic exposure to it has been linked to low-grade inflammation. It contributes to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and impaired immune response. Such a generous contributor.

The hero of our story, silence, helps restore the balance. As the parasympathetic system takes over, cortisol and adrenaline levels decline, paving the way for anti-inflammatory processes to resume. It’s not dramatic, but it is measurable and cumulative.

Emotional and Psychological Wellbeing

We need a moment for ourselves to process our emotions and figure out what we want to do and how we feel about it. And noise can take that away from us. Silence benefits our mental health so much that even the WHO has estimated that if we are exposed daily to an average of 45 dB, we have a higher risk for depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. No wonder we feel relief when we go to the mountains, see, or in general leave the city.

Silence creates conditions for emotional regulation and cognitive clarity. Neuroimaging studies show that during quiet states, there is increased activity in the brain regions tied to empathy, introspection, and executive function.

Even sleep quality is significantly compromised by low-level background noise. Even low dB noise can cause micro-arousals, reducing sleep efficiency, REM duration, and the body’s ability to repair overnight. Quiet bedrooms promote deeper, uninterrupted, and more restorative sleep, which in turn influences emotional stability and resilience.

Silence and Productivity: The Amplifier

Auditory stillness directly correlates with enhanced productivity and mental efficiency.

A study by Banbury & Berry (1998) in “Applied Cognitive Psychology” demonstrated that irrelevant background speech, like the one in an office, significantly disrupted performance on memory and attention-based tasks. And that was 27 years ago.

The working memory system is highly susceptible to auditory interference, particularly in knowledge-based roles.

Silence is equally critical for creative work. A different study by Jung-Beeman (2004), published in “PLoS Biology”, found that creative insight is supported by a relaxed state. Quiet conditions allow the brain to engage in spontaneous associative thinking.

Open-plan offices sound great on paper and sure are nice when the boss wants to show new clients around, but they rarely come without downsides. Especially the ones without dedicated quiet rooms for brainstorming and meetings.

They are repeatedly associated with decreased productivity, increased error rates, and higher employee burnout.

Silence is medicine and allows us to be better versions of ourselves, both psychologically and physically. I’m trying to spend more time in silence, even though it may seem boring. Like a form of meditation.

Sometimes I fall asleep to a podcast, but maybe I have to set a sleep timer on my phone to stop the recording at an hour or so. There are small things we can do to bring more silence into our lives. And remember – small things often accumulate and become larger.

---

Key Takeaways:

---

So here’s the deal: I love my apartment. It has decent light, okay-ish neighbors, and I’ve finally figured out where to put the sofa so it doesn’t block the Wi-Fi. But as I shared before, there’s one thing I cannot get used to, and that is the noise.

Some mornings, it could be heavy footsteps above my head that sound like a toddler doing CrossFit. Other times, it’s “important” hallway conversations that might as well be happening in my kitchen. And please don’t get me started on the plumbing that whines like it has unresolved emotional trauma.

The main problem is that I am renting. I can’t exactly knock down walls or install fancy systems that isolate the noise. But I also can’t keep pretending this daily noise is just part of the city life. I need some quiet time, or at least, less chaos.

So I’ve gone on a little mission. Not a full-blown renovation, but a realistic, budget-friendly hunt for soundproofing hacks that won’t get me in trouble with my lovely landlord (or my bank account).

Some of these I’ve tried. Some are new and genuinely interesting to me. But all of them are renter-safe, reversible, and designed to help your home feel a little more like the quiet haven it should be.

Let’s dive in.

Why It’s So Noisy in Here

Has it happened to you before that you hear your upstairs neighbor sneeze… and you instinctively say “Bless you” out loud? Yes? Same.

Apartments, especially rentals nowadays, are just not built with soundproofing in mind. Engineers or landlords go for what’s fast, cheap, and almost functional. And while that may work for plumbing and square footage, it’s often terrible for peace and quiet of the people renting.

Here’s why your place could be intensifying noise instead of softening it, and what your body’s quietly going through because of it.

Thin Walls, Loud Lives

As we have figured out already, most rental apartments are made with lightweight materials like drywall and basic framing, which do a pretty terrible job at blocking sound. Add in hard floors, open layouts, and vents that double as sound tunnels.

And let’s be honest, most of us aren’t exactly living in soundproof bubbles. We’ve got neighbors, traffic, barking dogs, and the occasional upstairs bowling league (or at least, that’s what it sounds like). It’s not you. It’s the walls.

Scientifically, this comes down to how sound travels through air and solid structures. Airborne noise (like voices or music) moves in waves that bounce off hard surfaces. Without soft or dense materials to absorb or deflect those waves, the energy passes right through drywall and into your space.

On the other hand, low-frequency sounds like bass or footsteps are even harder to block, because they travel through solid materials like floors and framing (known as structure-borne noise).

According to the CDC’s environmental noise guidelines, common indoor sounds in multifamily housing can reach 50-60 dB during daytime, which is already well above the WHO’s recommended nighttime indoor maximum of 30 dB for healthy sleep.

Your Brain on Noise

Here’s something I didn’t fully realise until I started digging: your brain doesn’t just hear noise, it reacts to it, whether you want it to or not.

According to a 2021 paper in Frontiers in Psychology, exposure to unpredictable noise, especially low-frequency sounds commonly transmitted through walls and floors, can negatively affect working memory and reduce task performance by up to 25%.

That’s because low-frequency noise, like deep rumbles or thumps, is harder for the ear to block out and travels more easily through building materials. Your brain ends up devoting more energy to filtering irrelevant stimuli than focusing on what matters.

In studies by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency, researchers also found that indoor environmental noise, even below 60 dB, contributes to higher levels of norepinephrine, the hormone linked to our stress response. This confirms that sound pressure levels below the threshold of pain can still be biologically stressful.

So if you’ve been feeling more tense or tired, it might not be your schedule. It might be your walls, as we’ve figured out together.

7 Hacks That Muffle Noise Without Breaking Your Lease

Alright, now let’s dig into the fun stuff. These tips are all low-commitment, budget-friendly, and landlord-safe. And most importantly, there are no drills involved and no construction.

Just a handful of small changes that can help dial down the noise and give your nervous system some well-earned rest.

1. Softening the Stomp

If your apartment has hard floors, then rugs are your first line of defence against noise. Not just the noise you make, but also the kind coming from your neighbors below.

The trick? Use a thick rug with a dense rug pad underneath. That combination of materials helps absorb impact noise and reduces the bounce of sound in echoey rooms. Even better if you layer rugs in key areas, such as under your bed, couch, or hallway.

Research from the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) shows that carpets and rugs can reduce airborne noise levels by up to 25-34 dB, depending on pile thickness and density. This might not sound like much, but it’s enough to shift your space from echo-chamber to cozy.

Rug pads don’t need to be fancy. A decent foam or felt one will do the job. Just make sure it covers most of the rug’s surface area so it doesn’t slide around.

2. Sealing the Gaps

Doors and windows are like the weak spots in your apartment’s armour against noise. Even a small gap under your door, that’s not too noticeable, can let in hallway conversations like it’s on speaker.

Start with a door sweep. Even a simple strip that blocks the space between your door and the floor. Then, check around window frames. If you feel air coming through, sound is probably sneaking in through there as well. Weather stripping or adhesive foam tape can seal those gaps without any damage to the structure.

Bonus: You’ll also save a bit on heating and cooling. Win-win, right!

3. Curtains

You know how heavy curtains block out light? Well, they can help with sound, too.

Blackout or thermal-insulated curtains are usually made with thick, layered fabric that absorbs sound waves, especially high-frequency ones like traffic or distant conversations. They won’t make your room silent, but they’ll dull the sharp edges.

Got a wall that faces a noisy street? Try hanging curtains across the entire wall, not just the window.

4. Bookshelves

Surprise: your IKEA shelf can double as a sound barrier! Placing a fully loaded bookshelf against a shared wall adds mass. That is something sound doesn’t travel through easily. Books, especially hardcovers, absorb sound waves.

Studies from the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America show that “mass loading”, as in adding dense materials to lightweight walls, can reduce sound transmission by 10 to 20 dB, depending on how well the wall is covered. A tightly packed shelf acts almost like an improvised barrier wall, especially for mid-frequency noise like music or TV.

Just make sure the shelf fits snugly against the wall and is filled in. If books aren’t your thing, you can mix in boxes, baskets, or folded blankets to fill out the space and get a similar effect.

5. Double Duty Furniture

If you’ve got a thin wall separating you from a noisy neighbour, or even worse, their TV, then use your largest, heaviest furniture to your advantage.

Couches, wardrobes, dressers, and even headboards can absorb a surprising amount of noise. Just scoot them up against the loudest walls. If you can shift your bed away from the noisiest wall and replace it with a wardrobe or bookshelf, even better.

Pro tip: A thick headboard does more than look fancy. It muffles sounds that would otherwise bounce around your bedroom.

6. Acoustic Panels

Okay, so this one’s new to me, but really intriguing.

I have been looking into removable acoustic panels designed specifically for renters. They’re lightweight, stick on with adhesive strips or velcro, and you can find ones that look more like art than audio gear.

Why are they effective? Here’s what I found at the start of my research: Acoustic panels reduce reverberation time, which is the length of time a sound lingers in a room. A well-treated room can cut this by over 60%, making it easier to concentrate, sleep, or take a Teams call without background chaos. Panels made from dense foam or mineral wool can absorb up to 90% of high-frequency sound waves, depending on placement and thickness, according to industry lab tests.

I haven’t tried them yet, but I’ve started bookmarking options. They seem especially useful for rooms with lots of echo, or if you’re working from home and want to soften sound during video calls. Definitely one I’ll be researching more soon.

7. White Noise

Sometimes the best defense is… more sound. But the right kind.

White noise machines, apps, or playlists create a consistent audio blanket that masks sudden noises. I mentioned it briefly in the previous blog post, how white, pink, and other colorful noise can actually help with reducing stress.

In fact, here is what studies found out:

Using white or pink noise while sleeping can shorten the time it takes to fall asleep by up to 38%, and help people stay in deeper stages of sleep longer.

The even, steady nature of the sound helps your brain block out irregular external noise spikes, like your neighbour’s late-night kitchen karaoke.

Will These Fix Everything?

Let’s be honest, no rug or curtain is going to make your apartment sound like a recording studio. Your neighbor will still exist. Their toddler will still run. Someone, somewhere, will drop a pan at midnight.

But here’s the thing, you’re not trying to eliminate all sound. You’re trying to soften the sharp edges. To muffle the chaos just enough so your brain and body can breathe a little easier.

And these renter-friendly hacks? They do exactly that. You might still hear the noise, but you’ll feel it less.

Even one or two small changes can create a noticeable impact. You fall asleep faster, and you don’t flinch every time someone walks by your door.

It’s not silence. But it’s peace. And that’s enough.

Peace on a Budget Is Still Peace

You don’t need a renovation budget or a soundproof bunker to make your apartment feel calmer. You just need a few smart tweaks. A little softness. Some intention.

These aren’t big, showy fixes, but they add up. A thick rug here. A well-placed shelf there. Maybe some bedtime stories and pink noise to help your brain slow down.

Even if you’re just renting, even if the walls are thin, you still deserve a sense of quiet. And it turns out, you can get closer to it than you think.

---

Key Takeaways

• Even low-level background noise can disrupt concentration and memory over time.
• Emotional signs of noise overload include irritability, fatigue, lack of focus, and avoidance behaviours.
• You can reclaim peace at home by setting up quiet zones, using noise-masking tools, or wearing earplugs.
• Mental strategies such as mindfulness, breathing exercises, and cognitive reframing help reduce emotional reactivity.
• Digital overstimulation contributes to sensory overload—setting boundaries can restore calm.

---

Why Urban Noise is More Than Just Annoying

It lurks. And just as I wake up, it attacks. Today, it was the barking of two dogs who were fighting for supremacy. They are both locked in yards across the street from one another. Yesterday, it was a car honk that low-key sounded like a slur. What would it be tomorrow? The noise. Whatever it is, I’ll hear it.

The relentless soundtrack of urban living is getting louder. Ask the World Health Organization, and they will tell you that over 100 million people in Europe suffer harmful levels of environmental noise. That is like the population of Germany AND the Netherlands combined. Add to that 30 million more from the American CDC statistics, and imagine the tension, poor sleep, reduced focus, and rising stress that people live with.

I am talking about chronic noise exposure, particularly in cities. For me, it started just as a nuisance. Something I can brush off and ignore. Yeah… It’s not going my way. I’m looking for ways to cope. I also figured that my troubles with noise are not unique or special. The least I could do is share what I know about managing the emotional effects of noise, both by physical and mental means.

How Does Sound Affect the Brain? Poorly…

Can’t we just pick berries, sit around campfires, and grunt for communication, like the good old days? No, because who else will hear the delights of urban environments – jackhammers, sirens, construction, traffic, and air-conditioning hums?

Interestingly enough, when we are exposed to constant noise, it is not just the brain that is affected. The body reacts to it as well. Sometimes I feel like all tense, like I have stepped into a boss arena. But there is no health bar at the bottom. All while I fold clothes or do some other household chore. This is the physical reaction I’m talking about. What I’m getting is anxiety. All because of the “slight nuisance” that is everyday noise.

Many of us, I’m sure, are needlessly tense and on alert with no real danger to speak of. Noise builds up, and eventually it triggers our fight-or-flight response. During which we release cortisol, the hormone of stress. With that comes higher blood pressure, trouble sleeping, ultimately leading to insomnia, fatigue, and cognitive overload. Nasty stuff.

Even relatively low levels of chronic background noise, under 50 dB, can interrupt deep sleep or reduce focus over long periods. The effect is cumulative, as all bad things are.

It’s difficult to assess how sensitive my nervous system is. I only have my own perspective. But I do get anxiety and mental fog in mundane situations. At least I’m not a child. Constant noise can affect the development of their brains, slowing down the learning process. And with noise, concentration is out the window.

This constant stress we are all feeling to some extent increases the risk of burnout. Today I don’t like my colleagues, tomorrow – my friends, or my hobbies seem dull, or I’m angry at my spouse for something.

No. This might be the front-end story my mind presents me with, but in truth, at the back-end, it’s the effects of an ongoing burnout.

Can Noise Pollution Cause Emotional Fallout

Can a fish swim? I’ve seen some lazy carp, but usually yes. When we think of the dangers of noise, we often imagine it as standing in front of a booming speaker or using heavy machinery with no ear gear. The volume, the power. Thinking about noise soon brings up the image of your eardrums popping.

But noise is a creeper. It doesn’t need to be loud. It can make even a rational person irritable and exhausted with no apparent reason.

The lack of concentration is another way I notice that there has been too much noise around me. When folding a t-shirt feels like folding a fitted sheet – that’s when I know I have fatigue.

Yesterday I insulted a spoon, because it splashed water when I was washing it. A spoon!? But stress can make a person emotionally reactive enough to lose their balance. This heightened impatience is another giveaway that the nervous system is running on fumes.

Do you know what avoidance behaviours are? It’s when you don’t want to engage with something because of the discomfort it would bring. Like not inviting people over or skipping gatherings because you are on edge and can’t stand the idea of more exhaustion.

What Are Some Emotional Coping Strategies That Actually Work

Once you’ve allowed yourself to experience your emotions, the next step is to label your emoions and identify how you are feeling. This can make your emotions seem more managable.

– Matthew T. Tull; Psychologist

How to Reclaim Control of Your Environment

A solution to the ongoing everyday noise that I explored is to create quiet zones in my home. I have designed my place with the idea to get back the control I need to feel safe and relaxed.

For my setup, I used an old thick rug that I had lying around (pun intended), curtains, and I already had bookshelves, but I bought a couple of soft pillows to passively absorb sound.

A different approach is to use noise masking. Everything that can produce a pleasant white noise would do. That could be white noise machines, fans, or 10-hour-long videos of giraffes eating the top of the crown leaves. Anything that can drown out the sporadic city sounds.

And if you are thinking, “how can adding more noise resolve a noise issue?”, the trick is that pleasant white noise gives the brain something predictable to hold on to, and better ignore the sharp and surprising urban noise.

One can always swallow the small discomfort of having earplugs and combat the noise issue that way. Normal in-ear Bluetooth headphones might work, but there are also specially engineered earplugs that keep the clarity of sound while also lowering the perceived dB significantly. People usually buy such gear for loud environments like a concert or a party.

Is Mental Gymnastics a Reasonable Approach to Noise

Once upon a time, on a very hot summer morning, I was woken up by birds chirping in front of my open window. The noise coming from them disturbed my sleep. Aren’t bird songs supposed to foster relaxation and comfort? I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to imagine that I was relaxing in a forest after a long hike or something like that. From being irritated at birds, to humbly enjoying their melodies – it’s all a matter of perspective shift.

Did I fall back asleep? No. But it got me thinking about how if I change my reaction to a situation, the situation changes.

Not to sound like a Buddhist monk, but mindfulness techniques do work. I try to observe without immediate reaction, so I don’t react or fight every sound I hear. Rather than that, just notice it without labeling it as bad.

There is an app for everything, and that includes guided meditations and mindfulness. They can help you have better control of your emotions and be more present, so mental stress does not build up that fast.

The deep breaths I took were not just for dramatic effect on that hot summer morning. Breathing exercises are another powerful tool to help you calm down and reset. Even a couple of slow, deep breaths can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. This little buddy of ours is responsible for the opposite of the fight-or-flight response – the much chiller cousin, rest-and-digest. Yes, really. This system allows us to shift from tension to restoration.

The mind is like water. When it’s turbulent, it’s difficult to see. When it’s calm, everything becomes clear.

– Alan Watts; British philosopher

And the trick I used to imagine myself in a forest after a hike? Kids call it imagination, but scientists have given it the name of cognitive reframing. It’s a technique that allows us to reinterpret a seemingly “threatening” noise as simply a “bothersome” one. This new perspective allows the brain to remain calm and emotionally balanced.

How to Set Up Daily Boundaries For Digital Hygiene

Noise is not the only villain that can take away your peace and quiet. Researching topics, planning meetings with friends, following meme accounts on social media… I have been responsible for overstimulating myself so many times. I know what would happen, and I still do it. Well, less and less I want to believe (shout-out to Fox Mulder), but digital clutter can disturb our emotional resilience.

Here is what I do. I try to avoid overstimulation by limiting screen time, especially before bed. Notifications and news are muted at around 8 pm. But I struggle to create screen breaks during the day because my work and some of my hobbies are on the screen.

Generally, introducing a noise-free period in your daily routine can lower stress levels. For some, it’s the slow, silent mornings, or quiet hours before sleep, or even soundless lunch breaks with no devices. If the food on your plate has gone cold because you can’t find the right video to eat it to, then we both are as guilty as charged.

These quiet intervals allow the nervous system to down-regulate, supporting recovery from constant exposure. Stress is like a drug, and sometimes we don’t know that we are addicted to it. Going for a walk with earbuds or falling asleep to a podcast can seem like relaxing things to do, but they add more wood to the overstimulation pyre.

Mindfulness achieved. Now I want something physical

I can only ignore or limit the attention I give to noise, stress, and anxiety so much. Sounds familiar? Mental techniques and tools can be greatly empowered when combined with physical changes to your environment.

Noise can get to us in a huge variety of ways. It can leak just like water from cracks on the wall, holes, or windows that don’t close tightly. It can be amplified by flat, hard surfaces. Noise can make other noise louder because of the way the sound waves’ amplitudes combine.

There are physical ways to combat noise without having to do full renovations.

How to Rearrange Your Living Space

Interiors can have noise-dampening qualities; we just need to make the right choices. Sound-absorbing curtains are a start. They are usually best buddies with sealed windows. Together, they can stop outside noise like traffic, construction, and street sounds.

Bookshelves, like the one I have, make excellent sound barriers. They scatter the sound waves before they reach you. A bit awkward to say, but they do need to be filled with books. For even more impact, put additional insulation or padding materials at the back of the shelf.

Having more soft furniture in a room, especially if placed next to a noisy wall, would help with sound absorption. Sofas, beds, headboards, bean bags, a big stuffed polar bear toy – whatever fits your style.

Our homes should be temples of relaxation and recovery. My home, my castle, and all that. I, for one, don’t live in a mansion, but if your place allows it, keep your distance from the source of the noise. That could mean to avoid a shared wall, or the face of the building that is closest to a busy street.

Getting into home acoustics, one panel at a time

The last trick up my sleeve would be to recommend full-scale renovations. That is the most effective and most expensive way to go. But don’t go rushing to feel powerless. There are a lot of accessible options for acoustic treatment for a home.

Start by sealing gaps. Not just the one in your resume, but small openings around windows, doors, and skirting boards. They are common culprits for letting sound in. Use weatherstripping, acoustic sealant, or door sweeps to close these off. Even a simple draft blocker at the bottom of the door can make a difference in blocking hallway noise or street-level sounds.

The next step is to consider placing acoustic panels on key surfaces that reflect the most sound. Usually, that would be walls right in front of the source of the noise, as they are the first to get hit by the sound wave.

On the market, multiple companies sell acoustic panels like GIK Acoustics and their SpotPanel 50 mm or the WAVO panels of DECIBEL. There are many more. These panels combine wood, fabric, PET felt and different geometries to influence how sound behaves in a room. More often than not, modern panels are created to be aesthetically pleasing and highly adaptable to the style of different interiors.

Panels can be glued or mounted to the walls pretty easily, and most sellers offer free-standing panels or screens that can be positioned and moved freely in an apartment. This is useful for people who rent and can’t (or won’t, let’s be real) do renovations.

Do you know what TL;DR stands for? Too Loud; Didn’t Relax. Or something like that… the explanation was too long and I didn’t have the time to read it. We, the city people, deserve to have the quiet to recuperate and unwind. And noise is not going away, unless we do something about it. The sooner we realise that it accumulates and leads to negative effects on health, the better.

---

Key Takeaways

• Noise messes with your sleep, your mood, and your health.
• Even “normal” noise that you can ignore or not even hear, such as street sounds or music through a wall, can raise stress hormones and increase your risk of heart problems over time.
• Simple things help: earplugs, white/pink noise, rearranging furniture, sealing window gaps, or using thick curtains.
• If you feel tired, reactive, or overwhelmed often, you’re not being too sensitive. You’re living with an invisible stressor, and that matters to your health.
• Tiny rituals (for example, cozy audio or a tech-free wind-down before relaxing) can help your body finally switch off.

---

You’ve had a long day. Work was chaotic. The commute back was even worse. All you want now is to sit down and slowly breathe out on your couch. Maybe even queue up a comfort show, and finally enjoy some peace.

But then out of nowhere – boom. 

Your neighbour’s stereo kicks in like it’s 2004 and they’re DJing their own high school reunion. They just rediscovered the Black Eyed Peas. On full volume. And suddenly your quiet, your calm, your safe space? Gone.

Well, I’ve also been that neighbor sometimes. Last week, I rediscovered the CD on which my dad and I put every single Metallica song on. Obviously, I listened to it on my speakers, but still made sure they were not on full blast and that it wasn’t too late, when all my neighbors would be coming home too. I guess we’re not all that considerate. 

Anywho, we usually brush this kind of noise off, or at least me. Maybe because I don’t want to seem petty. Or maybe because it feels like there’s not much we can do. What am I going to do, knock on their door every day?

But to be honest, after a while, after the same sound invasion, again and again, every afternoon, I started to wonder: what is this actually doing to me? Not just to my mood, but to my mind. My brain. My body.

Does this kind of level of stress just… sit there? Does it build up and come out sideways, like, for example, when I snap at someone at work for no real reason? Or maybe it’s the reason I can’t fall asleep at night, even when the apartment is finally quiet.

Turns out, after I dug into some articles, that there are effects on our bodies, caused by constant noise that irritates us, even subconsciously. And of course, I’m not the only one who’s noticed.

Dr. Arline Bronzaft, one of the leaders and innovators in noise research, puts it bluntly:

“Noise creates stress on the body – and can lead to physiological damage.”

She’s studied how things like traffic and airport noise disrupt sleep and how they have been linked to heart disease and cognitive issues, especially in children. Surprisingly, even moderate noise, she says, “diminishes quality of life” at home.

Why can’t we just tune noise out?

Here’s what really caught my attention. Even when you think you’re used to apartment noise, in reality, your brain isn’t.

The background thuds of someone walking upstairs, or the muffled phone call coming through the wall. And don’t get me started on my neighbour’s kitchen blender that apparently doubles as a jet engine.

We might be ignoring all of these sounds. But our nervous system? Not so much.

Our brain is wired to treat unexpected noise as a possible threat. That’s biology doing its job. Our bodies are making sure we’re alert in case something’s wrong around us. And while that’s helpful in a forest full of possible danger, it’s not so helpful when the only thing attacking you is a subwoofer through drywall.

This is what scientists call noise-induced stress activation.

It’s very subtle, and it doesn’t feel like a panic attack. But it still triggers your fight-or-flight response, about enough to raise your heart rate, tighten your muscles, and release stress hormones like cortisol. And here’s the crazy part, even if you don’t hear the noise consciously, your body still reacts to it.

Dr. Charlie Roscoe, a researcher at Harvard, explains it this way:

“There are people who live on busy roads who say, ‘I don’t even hear the noise.’ But even if you don’t hear it…it is potentially still harmful to your health.”

His team found that even small increases in environmental noise, such as the typical daytime traffic, for example, can correlate with higher risks of heart attacks and strokes over time. Scary.

Furthermore, over time, this low-level activation builds up in your body, and the result is that you feel tired, irritable, and anxious. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) has linked chronic noise exposure to everything from cognitive impairment and poor concentration to increased risk of cardiovascular issues.

Let’s pause here and debrief a bit.

You’re not being dramatic, and no, you’re not too sensitive. That low-level stress you feel after days or weeks of noisy interruptions is really your nervous system trying to protect you from a threat it never gets to escape.

And because this kind of noise doesn’t feel like a real problem, we rarely give ourselves permission to do anything about it, and even escape it, since it’s happening in our home.

Noise + sleep loss = A health storm in the making

You’ve finally climbed into bed, and the apartment is quiet. Your neighbour’s TV is off, the traffic has become almost none, and you’re ready to crash into your pillow.

But your body is, for some reason, still buzzing, still a bit tense, and still not quite “off.”

That’s the thing about chronic noise around you, even when it stops, your nervous system doesn’t flip off like a switch. Especially if you’ve been dealing with all of those noise disruptions throughout your day. Your brain stays in a kind of low-level alert mode because of that.

So you lie there with your eyes closed, tired from the day, but somehow still wide awake.

Let’s say you do fall asleep. Great, right? Well almost.

Studies from WHO show that even if you don’t consciously wake up, noise can pull your brain into lighter stages of sleep. It can cause tiny bumps in your sleep cycles that you don’t remember, but your body definitely does.

That means less deep sleep. Less REM. Less actual recovery.

That results in you waking up groggy on most days. Maybe even more irritable. Could feel as if you technically got 8 hours, but your body disagrees with you.

This kind of interrupted sleep is especially common in apartment buildings with thin walls, noisy neighbours, and traffic outside the window. And once it becomes normal, you stop noticing how much better your sleep could be, until you finally get one of those rare silent nights.

Irritability, anxiety, and mental fatigue

Have you had those days when you spill a little coffee, and suddenly it feels like the end of the world?

Or maybe someone asks you a simple question at work, and you snap at them a little. Not because you’re a bad person obviously. Not even because you’re in a bad mood. Out of nowhere, it’s as if your fuse is short. Like, comically short.

Sound familiar?

That’s not just you being sensitive. That’s emotional fatigue that happens, often brought on by invisible, low-level stressors like noise. And the worst part is that you usually don’t realise it’s the noise that’s doing it.

Is background noise connected to anxiety?

Even when you’re not consciously reacting to it, noise can quietly build up some anxiety in your mind and body over time.

Why? Well, because your nervous system is stuck in the ready mode I mentioned earlier. Your brain is scanning for the next interruption or danger. And your body stays slightly tense.

That constant state of low-key alertness is exhausting. It eats away at your emotional bandwidth, leaving you kind of with less patience, less focus, and less ability to self-regulate when something actually goes wrong.

You’re not imagining that your bad mood seems worse when you’re stuck in a noisy environment. It is indeed normal that environmental stressors like sound can increase negative emotions, especially in people already that are already prone to feeling anxiety or overwhelm.

Your body is trying to cope – so let’s help it

Here’s where things get a little more encouraging.

Yes, your environment matters, but your body is incredibly adaptable when it’s given a chance to recover. And even small actions, literally tiny, manageable ones, can help dial down the noise inside, even if you can’t control what’s outside.

So if you’re tired of feeling like you’re always on edge, always bracing for the next interruption? You’re not being dramatic. You’re being human.

There are things that you can try that actually make a difference. Let’s look at a few.

DIY tools that can actually help

Let’s be real. Most of us aren’t about to tear down our walls or move to a remote cabin in the woods.

So what can you actually do when the noise isn’t something you can control, but you still need to function, rest, and feel like yourself?

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to make huge changes. There are small, simple things that act like tiny shields, nothing dramatic, just enough to give your body and brain the needed break.

1. The surprisingly effective classic

The earplugs, and old-school, but seriously underrated. A good pair of foam or silicone earplugs won’t cancel out everything, but they will take the edge off the sharpest, most distracting sounds. Such as hallway stomping in the late hours, traffic, or that one chair your upstairs neighbor insists on dragging across the floor for some reason.

2. White noise (or pink, if you’re feeling fancy)

I used to roll my eyes at this one, I’ve heard so many people swear by it, until I tried it.

There’s something strangely soothing about giving your brain a consistent, non-distracting sound to focus on. White noise helps cover up all the unpredictable stuff and smooths it almost into one steady background layer.

Personally, I’ve found pink noise even better. It’s a little softer, deeper, feels a bit less hissy. There are many many types of similar noise you could try out, there is also brown noise that sounds like you are peacefully flying in an airplane.

And what if you’re not into abstract static? There’s a whole world of cozy audio out there. Lately, I’ve been falling asleep to a YouTube channel called Get Sleepy, which tells slow, peaceful bedtime stories. It’s like guided imagination for grown-ups.

What is also nice about this one, is that there is subtle background noise such as rain, birds, or anyhting peaceful that matches the story that’s being told by the host.

Small rituals before bed

Noise makes your nervous system feel like it needs to stay alert, as we by now have figured our. So sometimes, what helps most is sending your brain a different signal entirely.

Try building a few low-effort rituals into your day, and here’s what I’ve tried recently:

• Play soft instrumental music or ambient rain sounds while winding down, bonus points if you add a cup of herbal tea to the mix
• Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb” for the last 30 minutes before bed, no loud chimes coming from that small device
• Light a candle and read a physical book, maybe a lifestyle magazine, basically anything that tells your body it’s okay to switch off now

None of this fixes the world outside your walls. But it gives your body moments of calm inside them. And that matters, honestly a lot more than we tend to give ourselves credit for.

Let’s wrap this blog up

You absolutely need your quiet time. So the next time someone tells you to just “get used to it”? Feel free to ignore that noise, too.

You deserve quiet. You deserve rest. Science has proved it so many times that it’s impossible to ignore.

And it’s absolutely okay to protect the space where your body and mind can finally exhale after a long day being busy.