The din of aircraft flying overhead is annoying and unhealthy — even in your sleep. A recent study found that people who live near airports experience blood pressure spikes in response to the buzz of planes flying overhead, even when the noise wasn’t loud enough to awaken them. It’s a finding with implications way beyond the movement to ban night flights that is already taking hold in Europe, where the research was done.
In a recent study using data from the HYENA (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) project, Lars Jarup, MD, PhD, of Imperial College London and colleagues set out to determine the relationship between airport noise and high blood pressure. Blood pressure monitors were worn by 140 sleeping volunteers living near one of four major European airports. Meters were placed in bedrooms to measure concurrent noise levels.
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Researchers found that even low exposure to noise while participants slept — sounds that weren’t even loud enough to awaken them — caused rises in blood pressure. According to study co-author Klea Katsouyanni, MSc, DMedSc, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, “noise events” — disturbances louder than 35 decibels from the sound of an airplane passing overhead caused…
These findings were published in the March 2008 issue of the European Heart Journal.
The study findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that even small lifestyle risks and seemingly insignificant stressors — such as exposure to noise during sleep — can incrementally add up to big trouble for your cardiovascular health, cautions Dr. Jarup. It also raises a very real concern about the noise level from other situations including city traffic, televisions in the bedroom and even in hospitals (which on average, have a sound level of 70 decibels). According to Dr. Jarup, the study found that all kinds of noise events (including snoring and other indoor noises) have an effect on blood pressure. While researchers acknowledge that this trial was small and further study is needed, it sounds an alarm about hidden dangers of noise pollution.
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If you happen to live near an airport, Dr. Jarup recommends remedies such as better insulation of your house (eg, triple-glazed windows) and earplugs. He also suggests that you write or phone your government representatives and encourage them to ban night flights, a practice which is already in place at some European airports.
Source: Lars Jarup, MD, PhD, MSc, department of epidemiology and public health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. Klea Katsouyanni, MSc, DMedSc, department of hygiene and epidemiology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
