Traffic
Traffic queues on the M20 motorway and the slip road leading to the Channel Tunnel Terminal, near Folkestone in Kent, southern England December 19, 2009. Rail operator Eurostar cancelled all its services on Saturday because of bad weather, after four trains broke down due to freezing weather conditions, trapping about 2,500 passengers overnight in the undersea Channel Tunnel linking France and Britain Reuters/Luke MacGregor

A new study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine has raised concerns around the ever increasing noise pollution and its negative effects not only on the environment but in individuals as well. Exposure to all three sources of traffic-noise pollution, road, rail, and air traffic doubles the risk of having a wider waist, concludes the study. The researchers from Sweden’s Institute of Environmental Medicine have successfully established an association between exposure to high decibels traffic sound and a risk of developing excess fat around the abdomen.

The study author, Professor Göran Pershagen, from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute says, "Exposure to traffic noise is increasing because of ongoing urbanization and increasing traffic volumes. It is important to fully assess the public health consequences of this development."

The negative aspect of noise pollution its effect on the human body was brought to light after carrying out a multi-year survey of 5,075 people who had all been involved in a previous study related to diabetes risk factors, living in suburban and rural areas around Stockholm. The level of road, rail, and air traffic sound exposure as well as overall lifestyle of the participants including their physical and psychological health, work habits and sleep patterns were taken into account. These figures were then compared with the data provided by the government having similar noise levels.

The researchers found that approximately 54 percent of participants had a regular exposure to one of the three types of traffic noises at or above 45 decibels, a baseline considered to be harmful, whereas 15 percent of them were exposed to two, while 2 percent were exposed to all three of the traffic noise sources. Moreover, a significant association between levels of traffic-noise exposure and the risk of developing fat around the central abdomen in participants over the age of 60 years was established by the researchers. Now, the question is why noise pollution is such a harmful factor. The study teams answers this question by explaining that the noise acts as a psychological aggravator and is capable of triggering increased amount of stress-related hormone production. This results in accumulation of excess fat which then ultimately gets deposited around the belly.

Pershagen concluded by saying, “Increased waist circumference (or central obesity) is an established risk factor for diabetes type 2 and a range of cardiovascular diseases. Consequently, the public health implications of our findings are potentially significant given the wide-spread and increasing exposure to traffic noise.”

To contact the writer, email:ruchira.dhoke@gmail.com

RELATED STORIES