Why is noise pollution bad?

Like any other form of pollution noise pollution is also bad for both our environment as well as our health.  Noise pollution refers to any form of disruptive noise that has the ability to disrupt the normal functioning of certain ecosystem or certain human community.

Our vehicles are the main source of noise pollution in the world. Ever increasing road-traffic in urban areas has already led to excessive levels of noise pollution in many cities of the world.

In one of their recent statements The World Health Organization categorized environmental noise as the source of harmful pollution, with negative psychosocial and physiological effects on human health. For instance, exposure to noise pollution at night can decrease our sleep quality and increase the feeling of morning tiredness and insomnia, affecting our overall productivity for the next day(s).

Many people that live in urban areas are exposed to high levels of noise pollution which in some cases leads to severe annoyance or sleep disturbance. The U.S. scientists have recently issued report that says that „the percentage of the overall populations at risk of high annoyance is 9.5%, and highly disturbed sleep at 2.3% „

Long-term exposure to noise pollution is particularly hazardous for human health because it can significantly increase the risks of heart attack and high blood pressure.

The government should be putting lot more effort regarding the traffic-related noise pollution (appropriate funds and research), and after gathering enough data enforce adequate policies to control the noise levels for our communities.

There are several different methods aimed at reducing the levels of harmful noise in our cities such as „using noise barriers, limiting vehicle speeds, alteration of roadway surface texture, limitation of heavy vehicles, using special type of tires“, etc, but many urban areas are still not giving these options a decent chance to tackle excessive noise.

With so many different types of stress in our life, the last thing we need is excessive and disruptive noise to make us even more stressed, aggressive, and lead to all kinds of other adverse health effects.

Peace and quiet does wonders for our body, so noise pollution is anything but welcome. By reducing the levels of noise pollution in areas where we live we'll be creating healthy environment where all people can work and live, without being constantly annoyed by all kinds of artificial noises.

Noise pollution is sadly still not widely recognized health and environmental issue, despite many facts saying a completely opposite story. Our attitude needs to change because why else do we crave so much to have a home in some quiet and peaceful area where we can fully relax ourselves?