Healthy Heart facts

Swedish scientists have been once again busy analysing heart attack risk and the things that cause an increased risk of having a heart attack. One such thing is traffic noise, and it was found that people living in areas with 50 decibel road traffic noise had a massive 40% higher chance of having a heart attack compared to those who lived in quieter areas. The study also showed that those with alot of bedroom noise had greater risks. These results are consistent with previous evidence which suggest a high degree of noise raises blood pressure. Individuals with hearing defects and exposure to other noise were factored out of the study and the increased risk was shown irrespective of other heart attack risk factors.

Such a study suggests that we should be particularly careful where we live as noise seems to be another one of the heart attack causes. I am lucky I live in a quiet residential area with not much traffic, but the news is not so good for those that live in city centres where the traffic is buzzing. Their heart attack risk is certainly much higher than mine.