How Much Excessive Noise Actually Messes with Your Health

Posted on October 26, 2016

Photo: flickr

Noise pollution is a lot worse for you than you'd have thought. According to the World Health Organisation, it's the second biggest environmental cause of health problems in humans after air pollution. Studies from 2012 suggested it contributed to 910,000 additional cases of hypertension across Europe every year and 10,000 premature deaths related to coronary heart diseases or strokes.

So why isn't anyone talking about it?

"Noise is invisible," says Poppy Szkiler of Quiet Mark. "I think that's why the problems associated with it have been ignored, until now."

So how exactly does noise harm our bodies? Like most things, it's an issue of both body and mind. The Lancet's "Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health" paper from 2013 states that "noise exposure increases systolic and diastolic blood pressure, changes heart rate and causes the release of stress hormones". So that pneumatic drill jackhammering outside your office window all last week? It's crunching up your blood pressure as well as the pavement.

Similarly, if you're living next to a busy city road, you're likely to be dealing with a decibel level somewhere in the 60s, while a main arterial road could be in the 70s. The same Lancet report claimed that long-term exposure to an average noise level of just 55Db is "thought to be risky for health".

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Source material from VICE