Articles on Stress :

BACKGROUND NOISE AFFECTS BRAIN FUNCTION AND BEHAVIOR

In all of our articles on stress in the Stress Free Forever Blog those that pertain to work stress are among the most widely read articles.

New research is showing that one of the biggest, yet most insidious, workplace stressors is background noise.

We are exposed to chronic mechanical background noise all day, with computers humming, heating and cooling units going off and on, florescent lights buzzing, and a host of other stressful sounds.

We begin our day by subjecting ourselves to a stressor known as 'acoustic startle response' each morning when we're jolted out of sleep by the "alarming" sound from an alarm clock.

Research is discovering that this kind of sound abuse can induce stress that leads to cardiovascular and digestive distress.

Psychologist Arline Bronzaft's research on the stressful effects of noise has shown that, in the case of a school located next to a train track, students' performance is very negatively affected by noise. On the quieter side of the school, students performed at a reading level higher than the students on the train side. When measures were taken to insulate the noise-affected students, the students performance equaled out.

To coororborate this, research has shown that stroke victims have also been reported to have increased visual awareness when listening to preferred music, and surgery patients have reported less pain while listening to nature sounds.

Take measures to calm your mind and body by using more soothing sounds to wake you up in the morning. And whenever possible, try drowning out noise by listening to something pleasant. Your brain will thank you!

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