The various studies show that road traffic and its noise seriously harm our health. We take stock.
A report from the European Commission and a study published in ‘JACC: Advances’* confirms a link between road traffic noise and an increased risk of high blood pressure.
Living near a busy road increases the risk of having high blood pressure
The noise of road traffic linked to the fact of living near a major and therefore noisy road axis will therefore naturally raise your blood pressure, as confirmed by the main author of the study, Professor Jing Huang: “We were a little surprised that the association between road traffic noise and hypertension was significant even following adjusting for air pollution“, he writes.
Noise is the second biggest threat to environmental health in Europe
The louder the road noise, the higher the risk of having high blood pressure. According to the European Commission, noise is the second biggest threat to environmental health in Europe following air pollution, with more than 100 million citizens, or 20% of the EU population, exposed to excessive noise levels.
Noise increases our stress level, disturbs our sleep, affects our learning abilities
Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius says: “Noise is not only a nuisance, it poses a serious threat to our health. It increases our stress levels, disrupts our sleep, affects our learning abilities and even aggravates strokes and heart disease. Today’s report shows that we must act decisively to tackle this often underestimated threat to public health“, he recalls.
* The researchers analyzed data from more than 240,000 people (aged 40 to 69) who did not have high blood pressure.