Life at times gives us impromptu tests that at the time we think we have fail in our minds.

When I moved out of London five years ago, one of the things I looked forward to was the change from urban noise to rural peace and quiet. Perhaps like many people, I tend to equate quietness with calm, contentment and time for reflection.

Stress is always present in a modern lifestyle, we are hooked on instant gratification and ever more powerful technology, which inevitably leads to stress and frustration when our needs are not met. We get stressed at work and we get stressed at home, we get stressed in the car - is there anywhere we can go to relax?

Oakland is often overshadowed by the city across the bay, but it has much to offer. One such thing is Oakland spas.

From the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep at night, our ears and brains are required to deal with a multitude of low frequency sounds that drain the brain of energy and cause stress. Noise may not be the sole cause of the stress and other health issues we experience, but it is most certainly one source. The good news is that we can reduce, and even reverse, the negative effects that noise has on our brains and bodies through regular exposure to the higher frequency sounds found in nature. When we can't go out into nature regularly, home water fountains and waterfalls are often a preferred source for nature sounds because they offer a multi-sensory stress-relieving experience that sound machines and audio recordings are unable to provide.