What is Stay Quiet, the all-expenses-paid trip to Sweden that lets you discover the benefits of total silence?

One might say , keeping quiet . Or rather: the fruit of the tree of silence is tranquility. And if speech is silver but silence is gold , then Sweden has hit the nail on the head . The news is truly intriguing: in the county of Skåne, in the south of the Scandinavian country, “Stay Quiet” is coming, a tourist experience that invites participants to spend a few days immersed in nature without speaking or making any noise.

The Stay Quiet Project

The selected participants will spend their stay in isolated cabins in the forests of Scania , in cabins equipped with a decibel meter that monitors the sound level. Anyone who exceeds the permitted threshold —by talking excessively or making noise—will have their stay terminated the following morning. Participation is free: travel, food, accommodation, and activities are covered by the project. The experiential program includes outdoor activities, walks among birch trees and lakes, forest bathing, and dinners cooked over an open fire . But again, everything must be done without speaking, in absolute silence.

The goal, the organizers explain, is to offer a detoxifying experience "for the soul," centered on reconnecting with nature, far from the hustle and bustle of cities and digital stimuli. The initiative was born as an extension of the "The Map of Quietude" project, a map of the region's most peaceful places, and aims to promote direct contact with the environment and inner calm.

The benefits of silence

The benefits of silence have been the subject of scientific study for years. Research published in 2013 in Brain, Structure, and Function revealed that two hours of silence a day can lead to the growth of new cells in the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory, learning, and emotion. This suggests that silence can contribute to brain regeneration, counteracting the negative effects of stress and chronic noise.

Silence has been shown to be one of the most effective forms of mental relaxation. By reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, silence helps calm the body and mind, lowering blood pressure and slowing the heartbeat . It also allows the brain to organize thoughts, consolidate memory , and promote creativity because, not subjected to constant auditory stimuli, it is free to wander and enter a state called the "default mode network" (DMN). This state is crucial for the process of reflection, self-reflection, and planning.

Silence as therapy

These benefits suggest that silence could be used as part of therapeutic strategies to improve mental and neurological health. For example, in patients suffering from anxiety or depression disorders or undergoing complex brain surgery, integrating moments of silence into their daily routine could amplify the effects of traditional therapies. Furthermore, according to experts, it could play a role in cognitive rehabilitation, facilitating brain reorganization after trauma or injury.

Returning to Scania, applications for the first edition, scheduled for fall 2025, closed a few days ago. The only requirement is a willingness to forgo speaking for the duration of the stay. At the end of their holiday, the "lucky" participants will also be honored with a souvenir: a personalized report of the "acoustic landscape" they experienced. It's not just a simple sheet of paper, but a sort of backwards playlist , a single list of everything they didn't hear: the din of traffic, the ringing of cell phones, the screams of stadiums, the sirens of ambulances, the screeching of subway tracks...