It’s having real tangible effects on our cognitive function…
Unsubscribe | Report as spam | Change email preferences
What noise pollution is doing to your brain
Cognitive decline means that the brain doesn’t work as well as it used to.
Cognitive decline happens with age… but for some people decline is more rapid.
Rapid cognitive decline can lead to severe loss of mental function.
Many things affect the rate of cognitive decline.
A new study shows that noise pollution can increase cognitive decline.
Noise pollution also caused anxiety and loss of brain mass.
It doesn’t seem to matter if noise pollution is during the day or at night.
These animal experiments were conducted at the Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Lethbridge, Canada.
The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Neurology.
Noise is a well-known environmental pollutant with many detrimental effects on health.
Night-time noise can increase blood pressure and the risk of heart attack.
“In addition to the effect of daytime noise on well-being, chronic nocturnal noise can also disturb sleep and affects physical and mental health.”
This study looked at the effect of noise and cognitive decline in mice.
“We investigated the effects of light/dark cycles on the impact of chronic traffic noise exposure on mouse brain structure and function.”
The mice were split into three groups.
One group of mice was kept in a relatively quiet environment.
Another group of mice was exposed to noise pollution during their light cycle — when they sleep.
The last group was exposed to noise pollution during their dark cycle — when they are active.
“Animals were exposed to traffic noise on either the light-cycle or dark-cycle for 30 days.”
Noise pollution caused increased stress on the animals.
This was seen by hyperactivation of the stress system — the HPA axis.
“Traffic noise exposure caused HPA hyperactivity.”
Exposure to noise pollution made the animals anxious and uncoordinated.
“Noise exposure caused anxiety-like behavior, impairments in dysfunction in balance and motor coordination.”
Exposure to noise pollution caused a loss of brain mass in multiple regions of the brain.
“Traffic noise exposure led to a reduction in brain volume, medial prefrontal cortex, cortical thickness, hippocampal volume, and amygdala area.”
This loss of brain mass was associated with behavioural and cognitive changes.
The ability to learn and remember was reduced with exposure to noise pollution.
Noise pollution accelerated cognitive impairment.
“Traffic noise exposure caused impairments in learning and memory.”
All of these problems were seen regardless of whether the noise pollution was during the sleep or wake periods — the mouse equivalent of day and night.
(Mice are most active at night)
“All adverse effects of the chronic noise stress were irrespective of the light cycle or dark cycle exposure.”
It was already understood that noisy interruptions to sleep are associated with a host of health problems.
This study shows that noise pollution is harmful regardless of the time of day or night.
Noise pollution ramps up the HPA axis – causing increases in degenerative stress hormones.
Noise pollution could be a far larger problem than previously understood.
“Our findings were a re-emphasis on the significance of noise prevention and mitigation strategies for public health.”
Who would have guessed that daytime noise pollution could shrink the brain?
Many of these symptoms are similar to symptoms seen in dementia like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
Properly studying the effects of noise pollution in humans is very difficult.
This was one of the first high quality studies to look at general noise pollution animals.
“Only a few animal studies have tackled this issue as a cohort study, which is not feasible to be addressed in human studies.”
Living far from traffic and aircraft noise pollution may help you stay healthier for longer.
You should consult a healthcare professional about diagnosing and treating health problems.
—-Important Message—-
If you’re a man who has ringing ears — this can help
Specialists at the California Ear Institute left in complete awe after they discover that…
…this innocent habit makes men 3 times more likely to develop tinnitus…
They could not believe that this seemingly harmless habit causes IRREVERSIBLE damage to the brain…
Causing ringing, clicking, whirring, humming and other strange noises that never stop.
Don’t do anything else until you see this — strange link between tinnitus and this habit in men
———-
