A team from American college of cardiology confirmed that traffic noises cause increase in blood pressure by using the Common Noise Assessment Method and using follow-up data over a median 8.1 years. People who had high exposure to both traffic noise and air pollution had the highest hypertension risk, showing that air pollution plays a role as well. Link to article here.
High blood pressure slowly damages your body and leads to numerous problems like heart attack. High blood pressure can damage cells of the arteries inner lining, making it less elastic and limit blood flood throughout the body. There are numerous problems it can cause like brain, kidney, eye, sexual organ, and heart problems.
There are numerous apps to help you calculate the traffic noise like decibel X app. The WHO guidelines for community noise recommends 30 A-weighted decibels (dB(A)) or less for quality sleeping at night. During normal sleep, your blood pressure goes down. If you have sleeping problems, it means your blood pressure stays higher for a longer period. This is why certain houses near the airport, or the highway may be less expensive, because it’s not an ideal location for sleeping. Unless, of course, the building is of quality and is built with great noise reducing materials.
There are numerous ways to lower noise pollution like installing soundproofing barriers, installing solid windows, sealing any gaps in walls, hanging curtains, using insulating tape, and much more. Depending on how much you are willing to spend, your solution will vary. While this isn’t too big of a problem for younger people, it can be critical for those who are older. The best solution is to always look for a location that isn’t too close to a major traffic source, which will be costly. The cheapest solution is to simply buy sleeping soundproof headset.
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