![]() A sound machine, a humidifier, or another form of white noise can help. Research shows that even when people think they’ve slept through certain sounds, they’ve had cardiovascular responses that activated their fight-or-flight responses. Fight noise with white noise, especially at night. ![]() “A growing body of evidence shows that when you go into a natural area, it makes you more focused, boosts mood, improves memory, and lowers stress levels,” Buxton says.Ģ. The sounds you hear when you take a walk in the woods or sit on a beach-birds chirping, leaves rustling, waves lapping-produce the opposite effect of the noise you’re exposed to in cities and suburbs, says Rachel Buxton, Ph.D., a Colorado State University postdoctoral researcher who studies the impact of noise pollution. The good news is experts say there’s a lot you can do to combat the effects of your so-loud life. Research has even found that loud music can drive unhealthy food choices, and the chronic stress reaction from constant noise has been linked to diabetes, respiratory disorders, and cancer. While the noise most people are exposed to regularly isn’t likely to lead to significant hearing loss, it is disturbing your sleep, affecting your ability to focus, and messing with your stress hormones, all of which can contribute to heart disease, says Neitzel. But if you don’t give them a break, they may never pop back up-and your hearing will be impaired.” In the same way, exposure to loud noise knocks the hair cells down temporarily, and they pop back up within a matter of days. “If you trample on grass, it’ll lie down and eventually spring back up. Those hair cells can recover if you give them the chance.“Think of them like a patch of grass,” says Edwards. Chronic noise-like frequent exposure to road traffic and planes flying overhead-causes small injuries to the hair cells in your ear, which transmit sound signals to the brain. The problem? This hormonal response also tends to happen when you are startled by sounds that aren’t life-threatening (think car alarms, jackhammers, or loud laughter at a restaurant) and can elicit potentially unhealthy physiological responses, says Paul Salmon, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at the UniversityĪ growing number of researchers say the impact noise has on your body, mind, and mood is too great to ignore. If the brain perceives a sound as alarming or even just annoying, it sets off a surge of cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones that help you run from a threat, explains Amanda Edwards, Au.D., a clinical audiologist at Vanderbilt University. ![]() That means the near-constant buzzing, humming, pinging, clunking, roaring, and banging around you affects you on a deep level-whether you’re consciously bothered by it or not. “Even though from a mental perspective we’ve adapted to our loud world and become remarkably good at screening out certain noises, our nervous systems are still responding,” says Neitzel. ![]() Meanwhile, additional research has shown that exposure to noise can spike blood pressure, heart rate, and the release of stress hormones. One study in the journal PLOS One found that being strongly annoyed by noise is associated with increased depression and anxiety. Then there’s the other toll of all this constant racket. For starters, it may be affecting your hearing: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association estimates that 30 million Americans are exposed to dangerous noise levels on a regular basis-up 10 million from just a few years ago. Yes, any of these scenarios may be a little annoying or downright crazy-making, but it’s having an impact on more than your mood, says Rick Neitzel, Ph.D., director of the Environmental Health Promotion and Policy Master of Public Health program at the University of Michigan. Or maybe you’re sitting in your living room in what should be pure quiet, but what you hear is a constant high-tech hum emanating from your fridge or your smart TV. ![]() Maybe you’re in your backyard and the kids next door are yelling, someone down the block has revved up a super-loud lawn mower, and there goes a plane overhead. No matter where you are right now, chances are you’re surrounded by noise. ![]()
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