Eliminate Noise To Reduce Stress
Lee Blue
Stress is a fact of life that most of us have learned to accept
and grown accustomed to enduring in our busy lives. But
minimizing noise, an element that often compounds stress, can
lead to better concentration, increased productivity and can
reduce your overall stress level.
There are many types of audio and visual noise that can cause
distractions that break concentration and increase stress.
There’s the noise of traffic and conversations when we’re
walking down the street, but then there’s the subtle everyday
noises of our homes and offices that can easily distract us:
doors shutting, the television playing, conversations in the
next cube, phones ringing, fingers tapping on the keyboard. A
study conducted by Cornell University found that office workers
exposed to constant noise showed physiological signs of stress,
even though they did not report feeling stressed at all. Not
only does the noise distract you, but it can be stressing you
and you don’t even realize it.
While we can’t necessarily control the fact that the noises
exist, there are ways to minimize or eliminate these noises
from infiltrating our personal space.
And when outside and background noise is minimized or
eliminated, the result can be a noticeably positive change in
human productivity. A study by the Federal Interagency
Committee on Aviation Noise revealed that when the outside
noise of airplanes flying over a school was reduced, test
scores among high school students increased by 12%. Now,
airplanes are a dramatic example of noise, but the evidence
shown in the study speaks for itself – reduction in noise
reduces distractions, increases productivity.
Here are some suggestions to reduce the sources of noise and
stress in your life.
Check Your Environment – When you sit down to complete a task
that requires your full attention, and you find yourself easily
distracted, take a look around – is your office disorganized,
have a décor that encourages a lack of concentration, or is the
furniture arranged in a way that encourages distraction? For
example, if your desk faces a window that overlooks a busy
street, maybe you should turn your desk in another direction.
How does your space or office feel? If the colors and décor are
too loud and busy with bright colors, patterns and designs, it
may be time for a makeover to tone it down a bit if the space
is constantly distracting, rather than inspiring, you. On the
other end of the spectrum, if your office décor has muted tones
and bare walls, you may need to spruce it up a bit to make your
office more interesting. Lastly, clutter is an unappreciated
distraction for many of us. If your desk is buried under piles
of old files and junk mail, your mind can easily trail off to
thinking about what’s in the pile instead of being focused on
the task at hand.
Tune the Noise Out – Even after making sure there are no
distractions in your own personal space, you still face the
noise of others. Especially for many of us who work in open
offices with cubicles, something as small as a quiet
conversation between two coworkers can destroy our
concentration. Earplugs are an option, but are limited in their
ability to truly turn off the outside noise in your environment.
A set of headphones, such as the EX29 Extreme Isolation Noise
Reduction Headphones, can completely tune out the noise. Unlike
noise cancellation headphones that attempt to balance the noise
coming into the headphones to the noise outside of the
headphones to create quiet, noise reduction headphones go a
step further and block outside noise. In addition to blocking
out distracting noises to help increase concentration, the EX29
Extreme Isolation headphones do not need batteries and you can
wear them for hours without fatigue. If you use them to listen
to music, you do not have to raise the volume to override
outside noise – instead, you will be able to enjoy the
intricate nuances of your favorite music.
Get Your Downward Dog On – A routine yoga practice can reduce
the “noise in your head” so that when you do sit down to
concentrate, you won’t be distracted by the noise between your
ears. There are several different types of Yoga for various
fitness levels, and with the focus on breathing to ease the
flow of oxygen throughout the body, most people notice a
significant difference in stress levels from their very first
Yoga session. There are many medical research reports to
support the health benefits of the exercise done in Yoga, and
many Yogis claim success in gaining an ability to focus on the
present moment, making them more productive and less stressed
than non-Yogis.
Research from sources such as Cornell University, Yale
University, University College London, and the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health point to a link
between noise and stress. While there are many other ways to
reduce the stress in your life, the above suggestions are a
prescription to minimizing the noise and stress that you
inevitably face everyday.
About The Author: Lee Blue is an avid musician, composer, and
home studio recording artist. He uses Extreme Isolation
headphones in his recording studio as well as his office during
work to block out distractions. Learn more about noise reducing
headphones at
http://www.quietheadphones.com
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