A Swedish study claims that people living in peri-urban areas are more likely than others to be overweight. In question, the stress generated by the noise of road traffic.
As we already knew, there are many factors promoting weight gain. This time, Swedish scientists are showing that daily exposure to noise pollution, especially transport noise, could increase the waistline. The study published in review Occupational and Environment, thus associates road, rail and air traffic and obesity.
More noise increases risk
The researchers compared the quality of life of people living in different peri-urban areas of the city of Stockholm with that of people living in rural areas. In all, 5,075 people have been questioned and subjected to various medical examinations since 1999. It appears that 54% of the participants had been exposed to at least one source of noise. They were 15% to be affected by two sources and 3% by three. Almost 25% of people exposed to noise on a daily basis were overweight.
For those concerned, the math is simple: the waist circumference increases on average by 0.21% when the noise for every 5 decibels. And the risk is even greater for women.
And that’s not all. People exposed to three sources of noise had an average 50% increased risk of becoming obese, compared to other individuals exposed to only one noise.
How to explain this phenomenon ? Scientists don’t have a clear answer on this. On the other hand, they strongly suspect cortisol, a hormone secreted in the event of stress and which causes the storage of fat in the abdomen. This hormone could increase when the noise is high.
In addition, noise pollution could have a detrimental effect on metabolism and cardiovascular function by influencing sleep. Bad nights could change eating habits and promote weight gain.
Europeans in danger?
Not long ago, the WHO alerted Europe to a possible obesity epidemic, and around the world, nearly 2 billion people are believed to be overweight. If we are to believe the results of this study, the trend of this curve should not be reversed immediately, especially when we know that nearly 125 million Europeans are exposed to transport noise …
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