It’s hard to believe that the first smartphone was unveiled less than a decade ago (2007)–a technology has exploded faster than any other in human history. Those sleek, harmless-looking, little weapons that have since shackled humans to the Internet, media/social media, and work, every waking hour. This eternal (infernal) connection quickly decimated the work-life divide, sleep, and any sense of “free time” or true peace. And alongwith that other great recent force, urbanization, it now means that humans are suffering unthinkable stress and… in a word, NOISE.

This has given rise to sharp new desires: for actual silence, quiet contemplation, to leave the shrieking world totally behind, and to be near, and hear, the “silence” of nature. And wellness resorts and spas (and even salons, restaurants, gyms, stores and airports) are answering the desperate cry for silence.

If wellness retreats and spas have always sought to deliver peace (not always successfully), now we’re seeing true “silent spas” launch (with silent bathing, treatments, therapists…everything). And if quiet, mindfulness and time-in-wild-nature are becoming the core offerings (as opposed to the old bling-y, hyper-luxury amenities) at more spa resorts, that trend is finding its perfect expression in more properties being developed in (and infused with the quiet, mindful values of) former monasteries, abbeys and nunneries. In addition to more spas appearing in more retreat-from-theretreat- from-the-world spaces like crypts, caves, former bank vaults, etc. Silent restaurants and silent meals at hotels or wellness retreats are also on the rise.

And this isn’t simply the old, sometimes awkwardly forced “digital detox,” where devices get confiscated, say, at some noisy urban hotel, with little else transformative on offer. While the “wellness monastery” is a neat encapsulation of the silence trend, it’s about everything–from property design and “vibe” to room design and treatments and experiences–shifting to more uncompromising quiet, authenticity and nature.

The Medical Evidence for Silence: Given that always-on digital connection is such a new phenomenon, the medical establishment is just beginning to grasp how it’s destroying our health and sanity. But recent studies confirm that both noise–and digital “noise”–hurt our focus and sleep, and increase stress hormones, anxiety and depression. But what is the impact of periods of silence on the brain? A Duke University study (2013) found that two hours of silence daily incited significant cell development in the hippocampus, the brain region related to the formation of memory. And “the brain on silence” is a brain evaluating internal and external info into “a conscious workspace”…establishing how we fit into the world. So, if depression and dementia are both associated with decreased hippocampus neurogenesis, silence looks to be a promising therapy.