Let’s try a little exercise. Close your eyes and just listen. What do you hear?
Maybe you hear the sound of keyboards clicking away in the cubicle next to you. Maybe you hear the TV in the background. Or maybe, you hear the sound of cars passing by outside your window.
Well, if you heard the latter, then you are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Transportation noise ups the risk of both cardiovascular disease and diabetes according to one study.
Transportation Noise Leads to Adverse Health Effects
A group of researchers in Switzerland have been studying the link between transportation noise and health since 2014.
According to their data, traffic noise is significantly linked with cardiovascular disease mortality. The data was pretty specific about it, too. The risk of dying from a heart attack is hiked up by 4 percent for every 10-decibel increase in noise.
Coincidentally, they also found that the higher the transportation noise, the more likely a person will have diabetes.
Though the findings seem pretty clear that there is a link between noise pollution (transportation noise) and heart disease and diabetes, researchers can’t say for sure how they relate to one another.
They suspect that it might be for a variety of factors. Noise pollution can greatly interfere with sleep, which has negative effects on heart health and diabetes. Noise pollution can also increase stress, which can negatively impact insulin metabolism.
Another possibility has to do with the lifestyle that generally comes with noise pollution. Those who live near heavy traffic, generally in urban areas, are more likely to have a poor diet and little exercise.
Whatever the true cause may be, it sheds some light on the lifestyle factor of diabetes. Your lifestyle is so much more than choosing between a Twinkie and baby carrots.
In the meantime, pop some earplugs into your ears while you sleep and see if you can find a way to live a more peaceful and active life.
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