A new study claims that living beside a busy road where there is traffic noise could increase the risk of obesity. Researchers say that living beside a main road causes people to gain weight faster while it doubles for those who live beside a railway to a flight path.
They suggest that the stress caused by traffic may increase levels of stress that may cause accumulation of more fat. This is caused by the body's flight or fight mechanism and the body would think that it is nearing crisis. Thus, it will store more fats to compensate the thought of 'scarcity of food'.
Moreover, noise pollution caused by the traffic can cause disturbance in the sleeping patterns of the person leading to them not motivated enough to perform exercise. These individuals cannot sleep well at night that is why their activities and energy levels the next morning are altered leading to lower inclination to exercise. Thus, they choose to have sedentary lifestyles.
"Traffic noise is a common and increasing environmental exposure because of urbanization," says lead researcher from the British Medical Journal, Andrei Pyko.
The research, published in the British Medical Journal, found out that those who live in areas near airports, flight paths and railways are more likely to have obesity problems due to increased noise pollution. They found out that the noisier the residence is, the higher risk for residents to become obese, reports Telegraph.co.uk.
He added, "Health effects related to traffic noise are widespread and span from annoyance, sleep disturbances and changes in stress hormone levels to adverse effects on the cardiovascular system."
Their findings entail that for every five decibels above the normal traffic noise of 45 decibels, the person gains about an extra 0.2 centimeters of waist measurement. However, writing in the journal, the researchers suggest that their measurements are applicable to persons 60 years old and younger, Herald Sun reports.
To land to their findings, the researchers measured the level of road traffic, rail and aircraft noise among more than 5,000 residents around Sweden. They are ages 43 to 66 years old and living in five urban and rural areas in the country.
They discovered that there was a 0.21 centimeters increase for every additional 5 decibel increase in noise level. Those who live near airports and under the flight path would double the rate of obesity.
