Noise and Stress Escapes

Studies have shown for decades that noise and stress go hand in hand. Noise causes changes in blood pressure, sleep patterns and digestion, which are all signs of stress on the body. More recent studies show noise raises stress levels causing heart and immune system problems and can alter brain chemistry in harmful ways.

It's no surprise that the origin of the English word "Noise" comes from the Latin "noxia", which means harm or injure.

Any downtown street is well over the government’s safety recommendations for exposure to noise. We are everywhere blasted by noisy sounds: aircraft and road noise, construction, phones ringing, and even in our homes we are avalanched by the noise of TVs blaring and mechanical background noises. In fact several studies, including a 1980 study that showed people living near Los Angeles’ LAX airport have decreased health and productivity.

What can we do? Escape into the quiet. Around the world there still remain surprisingly accessible places without the constant noise and stress of our modern world. Here we see Forbe's Travel Magazine's list of quietest places.

THE WORLD'S TOP TEN MOST QUIET TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

Asolo, Italy An hour outside Venice (another carless place that could have made this list), Asolo is a perfect noise and stress free medieval hill town of walls and cobbled streets and afternoons of nothing to do but sip a drink in an open-air café. Once home to Robert and Elizabeth Browning, in Asolo, the only alarm clock you’ll ever need here are the songbirds. According to Dr. Cheryl Fraser, “On a circular hike through the hillside farms and vineyards, over the top of the old castle and down the ancient winding stone path, the predominant sounds are the buzz of various insects and the beating of my own heart.”

The Troll Ladder, Norway Roads tend to be noisy places. Engines and wheels are not at all kind to the soundscape. But the Troll Ladder has something very few roads do: a soundtrack. Famed Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote his piece “Hall of the Mountain King” with exactly this place in mind: Hairpin turns so close to a towering waterfall that it’s a good idea to check your brakes and windshield wipers before starting the drive.

Yap Once you get past the fun of just saying the place’s name — Yap — this Pacific island (take a left at Guam), might just be paradise. It’s a jungle island, with endless coastline, mangrove swamps where giant fruit bats play, and under water, manta rays with 10-foot wingspans glide without a sound. Yap’s entire culture is built on adherence to social peace, so that, according to resident Richard Flow, even playing your car radio too loud when you drive simply isn’t done. “Do it,” he says, “and you’ll come back the next day to find your windshield broken.” So the loudest sound in Yap? Waves hitting the reef, more than a mile from shore. And occasional broken glass.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona-- Some of the box canyons off the main river have been measured to be half as loud as human breath. But nobody can take that for long, so head back out to the Canyon proper, where the signature sound, says Mike Buchheit, director of the Grand Canyon Field Institute, “as it grows from the graveyard silence of any hike, is the roar of the Colorado River.” Of course, some people come just because they think all the red rocks are pretty.

Big Bend National Park, Texas-- Big Bend is a kind of acoustic greatest hits record. Because the park, located in southwest Texas, has such a diverse landscape — mountains, deserts, river, with more species of birds, bats, and cactus than any other park in the country — only a few minute’s change in location can dramatically change what you hear, and noise and stress levels. And one of the best things about Big Bend? It’s not on very many airplane flight routes. In fact, the sound of planes is still very rare here. And that makes it one of the most unusual, noise-free environments anywhere in the world.

The Kalahari Desert-- Simple math: The greater the distance from people, the quieter a place is going to be. the Kalahari — which lies mostly in Botswana, but also spreads into five other African nations — may be one of the emptiest landscapes on the planet, over 350,000 square miles of low scrub and acacia trees, nibbled on by giraffes. But then, giraffes aren’t that noisy. Photographer Jad Davenport says of the Kalahari, “No sound out there at all. Nothing.

Take a minute and plan your escape to your own nearby sound sanctuary; make it a regular habit to lose the noise and stress stalking us in our daily life.

Here are some more ways to manage your stress with noise and stress free travel.