Latest news with #healthImpact
Times of Oman
25-06-2025
- Health
- Times of Oman
Over 20% of Europeans exposed to unhealthy noise pollution
Brussels: More than one in five Europeans are exposed to unhealthily high levels of noise pollution from road, rail and aircraft, according to a report out on Tuesday from the European Environment Agency (EEA). Long-term exposure to the sound of traffic has been connected to a range of health issues, including cardiovascular disease, mental illness, diabetes and premature death. Children and young people are believed to be particularly vulnerable to its far-reaching impacts, which can include educational performance and weight gain. The report finds an estimated 112 million people across 31 countries in Europe live with long-term traffic noise louder than the thresholds of 55 dB set by the European Noise Directive. That is equivalent to a residential street or a normal conversation. The number impacted rises to over 30% of Europeans when measured against stricter World Health Organization recommendations for safe levels of sound. "Noise pollution is often overlooked, considered just an annoyance of everyday life," said Leena Yla-Mononen, executive director of the EEA, but argued "it's a problem all EU Member States need to urgently address if we are to make progress on our EU 2030 zero pollution target to reduce noise pollution." The report identified road traffic as the main problem — particularly in crowded urban areas — impacting an estimated 92 million people across the continent. Only a third of the population in cities assessed have access to quiet, green areas within 400 meters of their homes. Countless studies highlight the health benefits of time spent in nature. Serious health impacts Noise from traffic is the third biggest environmental health threat in Europe, behind air pollution and temperature related factors, according to the report. Across the continent, it results in the annual loss of 1.3 million healthy life years, which the report measures by combining years of life lost due to premature death with those lived in bad health. Environmental noise and the resulting sleep disturbance can trigger both physical and psychological stress responses associated with metabolic illness, stress and anxiety, disease and cognitive impairment. The report, which says millions suffer from sleep disturbances resulting from excessive noise, cites 66,000 related premature deaths as well as tens of thousands of cases of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in Europe each year. It highlights new research pointing at a potential connection to depression and dementia. Too much noise is also taking its toll on the young. The authors say being blasted by the sounds of traffic is causing half a million children to experience reading difficulties and 63,000 to have behavioral challenges. It also draws a connection to more than a quarter of a million overweight young people. Animals suffering from the racket Humans are not the only ones distressed by the din. Wildlife is also being disrupted. Almost a third of Europe's most threatened and valuable protected nature reserves are at the mercy of roaring traffic. In Europe's waters, the noise of shipping, offshore construction and ocean exploration is impacting marine wildlife. Many species, such as whales and dolphins, rely on sound to survive. Studies have found that all animal species change their behavior in response to high levels of noise. Birds such as great tits in cities in Europe, Japan and the UK have been recorded singing higher than their country counterparts, and vocal changes have also been noted in insects, grasshoppers and frogs living near motorways. Among animal species noise pollution can disrupt mating, the rearing of offspring, and make it harder to locate prey. Global challenge but not all suffering equally Noise pollution is also costing the European economy $95.6 billion (€82.43 billion) annually, through loss of productivity resulting from its health impacts. While the report focused on Europe, extreme noise can be found in all major cities, from London to Dhaka to Algiers. In New York, 90% of people using transport are subject to noise that exceeds safety limits and can lead to permanent hearing damage. Around the world, poorer communities are more likely to be located beside industrial plants, landfills or major traffic arteries, exposing them to more noise than wealthier residents in the same city. Experts have suggested noise pollution could be eased by reducing traffic, setting lower speed limits, promoting more public transport as well as electric vehicles and cycle paths. The EEA report says action needs to be taken at both the EU and national level, recommending improved access to quiet and green spaces in cities, as well as measures such as using low noise tires, regular rail maintenance to smooth tracks and optimizing aircraft take-off and landing patterns. It says without additional regulatory or legislative action, the EU is unlikely to reach existing targets aiming for a 30% reduction in the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 2030.
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Noise pollution harms health of millions across Europe, report finds
More than 110 million people across Europe suffer high levels of health-damaging noise pollution, according to a report. The resulting physiological stress and sleep disturbance leads to 66,000 early deaths a year and many cases of heart disease, diabetes and depression. The report, from the European Environment Agency (EEA), focuses on noise from cars, trains and aeroplanes and found that 20% of the population of the European Economic Area (EEA) were affected. Separate research, using a slightly lower threshold for dangerous noise pollution, found that 40% of the UK population were exposed to harmful transport noise. Seventeen million people endure particularly high noise pollution – 'long-term, high-annoyance' – and almost 5 million suffer 'severe' sleep disturbance. Fifteen million children live in areas of harmful noise. The harm to health from noise is greater than that from higher-profile risks including secondhand tobacco smoke or lead exposure, and incurs an economic cost of almost €100bn (£86bn) a year, the analysis found. The damage to health is likely to be an underestimate, the researchers said. Using the World Health Organization's stricter threshold for risky noise pollution gives an estimate of 150 million people across Europe exposed. The EU's target to cut the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30% by 2030 will not be met without further action, the researchers said. 'Noise pollution impacts our health by keeping our bodies in a constant state of fight or flight, even if we don't consciously realise it,' said Dr Eulalia Peris at the EEA. 'This can lead to harmful physiological responses such as inflammation and oxidative stress, and over time, this increases the risk of various health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity, cognitive impairment in children and mental health problems.' 'Noise pollution is not only an annoyance,' added Peris, who has been affected herself. 'My God, yes. I'm very aware of the impacts of noise pollution, and I'm very sensitive to it. It limits your life.' The report is based on data reported by EEA countries on transport noise, which is the most widespread and significant type of noise pollution. Other kinds, such as loud neighbours and music from bars, are also likely to damage health but are difficult to measure because of their intermittency. The report found 92 million people across Europe were harmed by road transport noise, 18 million by railway noise and 2.6 million by aircraft noise. Published research on the health impact of noise pollution was used to estimate an annual toll of 66,000 premature deaths, 50,000 cases of cardiovascular diseases and 22,000 cases of type 2 diabetes. The number of people in Europe affected by noise fell by only 3% between 2017 and 2022, but the researchers said numerous measures could be taken. Cutting speed limits for vehicles in urban areas and boosting the use of low-noise tyres would cut road traffic noise, they said, as would promoting public transport, walking and cycling. The increasing number of electric cars will reduce noise less than might be expected, the researchers said, because the key source of noise at lower speeds is from the contact between the tyres and the road, not the engine. Traffic noise is also dominated by a small number of very loud vehicles. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Railway noise could be cut by better maintenance of trains and track, and aircraft noise could be reduced by optimising landing and takeoff patterns and encouraging the introduction of quieter planes. 'Noise pollution is often overlooked, considered just an annoyance of everyday life,' said the EEA's executive director, Leena Ylä-Mononen. One reason for this is that transport noise pollution is chronic, unlike air pollution which has peaks that lead to health alerts and raise awareness. 'However, long-term impacts of noise on our health and environment are widespread and significant,' she said. 'Children are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of noise, and it's a problem all countries need to address urgently.'
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Risk of Sleep Breathing Disorder Set to Rise 45% by End of Century
Rising temperatures could increase the chances of experiencing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by nearly 50 percent by the end of the century, placing a greater burden on society through loss of health, wellbeing, and productivity. This is the result of a recent investigation into the effects of local temperature increases on OSA, a condition where a person's airways become blocked while sleeping for more than 10 seconds at least five times an hour throughout the night. "This study helps us to understand how environmental factors like climate might affect health by investigating whether ambient temperatures influence the severity of OSA," says sleep scientist Bastien Lechat from Flinders University in Australia, who led the study. "Overall, we were surprised by the magnitude of the association between ambient temperature and OSA severity." Many of the nearly 1 billion people globally with this sleep disorder don't even know they have it, yet it can take a serious toll on their health. Aside from affecting sleep quality, OSA alters the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. In the long term, this imbalance can affect insulin and glucose metabolism, mental function and mood, and can even lead to cardiovascular problems like heart failure and stroke. Previous research has also linked untreated or severe OSA with increased risk of dementia, Parkinson's disease, traffic accidents, and all-cause mortality. Lechat and his colleagues drew on data from an under-mattress sleep sensor used by 116,620 people across 29 countries between January 2020 and September 2023. The sensor detects movement and sound which can be analyzed to create estimates of sleep timing, quality, and breathing. The researchers matched this data – around 500 separate nights per person – with detailed, 24 hour temperature data for participant's nearest cities. In 2023, this coincided with the highest mean temperature recordings on record in over 2000 years, 2.07 °C above pre-industrial levels. "Higher temperatures were associated with a 45 percent increased likelihood of a sleeper experiencing OSA on a given night," Lechat says. "The increase in OSA prevalence in 2023 due to global warming was associated with a loss of approximately 800,000 healthy life years across the 29 countries studied. This number is similar to other medical conditions, such as bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease or chronic kidney diseases." They estimate that the resulting wellbeing burden and workplace productivity loss cost economies a total of around $98 billion USD, with an estimated 105 million days of workplace productivity lost. All up, this would double the condition's estimated burden on society compared with today. "Importantly, these findings varied by region, with people in European countries seeing higher rates of OSA when temperatures rise than those in Australia and the United States, perhaps due to different rates of air conditioning usage," Lechat adds. Because the sleep sensors from which the data were collected are more readily available to people in higher socioeconomic countries and individuals, this study may actually underestimate the true health and economic cost of OSA exacerbated by climate change. These people may have access to better sleep environments and air conditioning, the researchers point out, mitigating the effect of temperature on their sleep. Modeling based on government climate change policies from 2020 suggests global warming will raise temperatures by around 2.1–3.4 °C by 2100, unless greenhouse gas emissions are further reduced. "The health and economic impact of these estimates would be consequential, and the increase in OSA prevalence due to rising temperatures in such scenario may double the overall OSA burden," the authors report. The research was published in Nature Communications. Breakthrough: FDA Approves Injection to Prevent HIV Is It Gastro or Food Poisoning? Here's A Guide to Your Upset Stomach Axolotl Discovery Brings Us Closer Than Ever to Regrowing Human Limbs
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Canada's first ‘sugar tax' shows some signs of effectiveness, but repeal is already set
Sales of bottled water increased, and more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians switched to diet or sugar-free sodas than residents of other provinces. A comprehensive analysis of Canada's first sugar tax shows signs of effectiveness, but the study comes too late to catch the eyes of decision makers who've already ruled on the tax's abolition. Newfoundland and Labrador's sugar-sweetened beverages tax reduced the weighted likelihood of consumption of targeted beverages by about 25 per cent, according to an analysis sponsored by the Heart and Stroke foundation. But the tax is set to be fully repealed on July 1. Its abolition was one of the first acts of Premier John Hogan, who took office in May. He said it was contributing to affordability issues in the province. 'We're disappointed because we didn't see any evidence that there was meaningful evaluation done at the government level,' said study co-author Scott Harding, an associate professor of nutritional biochemistry at Memorial University in St. John's. 'We would have liked them to maybe hold off, until they at least saw our data.' The study's analysis of sales data in Atlantic Canada showed per-capita sales of targeted products decreased about 11.6 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, compared to 6.7 per cent in other Atlantic provinces. Sales of bottled water increased, and more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians switched to diet or sugar-free sodas than residents of other provinces. 'These are the types of swings in behaviour in the population that we were hoping to see,' Harding said. 'But to do it over just two years, it's too short of a time period. And you need to change that.' Harding said his ideal tax would be bigger and broader, with fewer carve outs for things like chocolate milk and smoothies, which were excluded in Newfoundland and Labrador's tax. The tax was introduced in September 2022. It added a 20 cent per litre surcharge on certain sugary drinks, like sodas, in an effort to urge people to switch to alternatives. Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Finance, which administered the tax in the province, didn't respond to questions or an interview request from CTV News on Tuesday. The tax was deeply unpopular in the province and quickly became the topic of political attack by opposition parties in the House of Assembly. 'People don't like being told what to do, especially when it comes to something that they've been eating or drinking all their life,' said Tina Hann, a St. John's resident that sits on a panel of people with experience in poverty and food insecurity. She, like many others in the city, said she believes the tax was unfair. Hann said it made life harder for parents, as the tax was applied to some fruit juices and powdered drink mixes. Sara Schimp, a coffee shop worker in downtown St. John's, said she regularly heard complaints about the tax while on shift, even though neither she nor her business could do anything about it. 'I think it kind of proved that Newfoundlanders actually will pay the extra couple of cents for their sugary drinks.' Harding said Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial sugar tax could still be a model for other jurisdictions, but urged any other politicians watching the tax's progress to take a different approach. 'Give it some time to work,' he said. 'Shoot for success, don't just shoot for public opinion.'
Irish Times
13-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Why scheduling quiet time every day is good for your health
Do you have somewhere quiet where you can go? Spending time every day away from noise is good for your health. After air pollution, road, rail and air traffic noise is the second most important cause of ill health in western Europe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Industry, construction, public works and neighbourhood noise all add to what it calls 'environmental noise'. Heart attack , stroke , reduced cognitive performance in children, severe annoyance and sleep disturbance can result from prolonged exposure to such noise, according to the WHO. It is estimated to cause 12,000 premature deaths, and to contribute to 48,000 new cases of heart disease in Europe every year, says the organisation. READ MORE Noise is a health problem for at least one in five EU citizens, according to the European Commission . Yikes. It's hard for urban dwellers to avoid noise, but they are not the only ones affected. In areas affected by noise, the proportion of people 'highly annoyed' by noise is greater in rural areas than noisy urban areas, according to the European Environment Agency . This suggests that unnatural sound, such as wind turbines, perhaps, is more annoying in the context of rural areas and perhaps masks other, more beneficial, natural sounds, according to the 2016 Quiet Areas in Europe report by the Agency. The Environmental Noise Directive is the main EU law for noise pollution. It requires countries to publish noise maps and action plans every five years. It isn't prescriptive about noise limits or mitigations, however. That's for member states to decide for themselves. Action will have to be ramped up if the number of people affected by transport noise is to be reduced by its target of 30 per cent by 2030, says the European Commission. [ Dublin Airport noise could cause heart issues for nearly 17,000 people living nearby Opens in new window ] One action is identifying and preserving areas where there is good environmental noise quality. This kind of tranquillity is often found where there is vegetation, low levels of man-made sounds and the dominance of natural sounds, according to the Quiet Areas report. The visual intrusion of man-made structures and buildings into an otherwise perceived natural landscape can also reduce the sense of tranquillity. Ireland ranked fourth in EU countries where people living in cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants had access to quiet areas within a one-hour drive, according to the report. Those living in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg had the least access to quiet areas. It's important for all of us to get respite from noise pollution and the Environmental Noise Directive allows for the designation and protection of quiet areas. Limerick City and County Council has some areas in mind. Since 2020 Limerick has been inviting its citizens to use the free Hush City app to record information on areas in the city and county where they find peace and tranquillity. This information is then available to policymakers, and it shows others where they can find peace and quiet too. As part of Limerick's Noise Action Plan 2024-2028, the council will assess sound in parks and other green spaces in Adare, Newcastle West, Croom and Abbeyfeale, gathering supportive evidence to have them officially designated as Quiet Areas. [ 'Like living near a helicopter': Residents fed up at takeaway delivery drones buzzing over their homes Opens in new window ] Limerick was ranked 'excellent' by the Environmental Protection Agency for its 2023 noise action plan progress report. The city and county have been using low-noise road surfaces, introducing traffic calming to reduce speeds, conducting noise monitoring surveys and prioritising cycling and walking routes. Noise is about culture and respect among people too. In some areas of Germany, you wouldn't dream of mowing your grass or cutting hedges between 1pm and 3pm as it is typical for older generations to sleep at this time. If you haven't stopped work, you will likely get a gentle reminder from a neighbour to do so. It's a two-way street, where neighbours assure each other some quiet time every day. So whether it's your phone on speaker on public transport, your strimmer going on a Sunday morning, or your dog barking all day, spare a thought for those around you. Don't make noise, make peace.
