Noise at work: harmful to hearing and heart
Baku, February 26 (AZERTAC). Noise levels can damage our hearing. That`s an undisputable fact because it is based on scientific evidence. Now imagine a noisy work environment with factory equipment and other heavy machinery blaring at full blast, day after day. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, approximately 30 million Americans are occupationally exposed to harmful noise at work. And now a just-released study shows that high-level noise in a workplace endangers not only the hearing, but also the heart.
The study recently published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, an international peer-reviewed journal, says that years spent in a persistently noisy workplace double an employee`s chances of developing serious heart disease.
Researchers based this finding on an examination of a database of more than 6,000 employees aged 20 and older who were surveyed about lifestyle, occupation and health. The participants were grouped according to those who endured loud noise at work (meaning it was difficult to talk at a normal volume) for at least three months and those who did not experience loud noise. The study found that 21 percent of mostly male employees were exposed to noisy workplaces. They were two to three times more likely to have heart disease than workers who did not experience noise exposure.
Those who endured loud noise were also more likely to smoke and weigh more than workers who experienced quieter environments. But noise emerged as a risk factor for heart disease even when controlling for those other risk factors.
The study`s authors believe that noise exerts the same kind of stress on the body as sudden strong emotion or physical exertion, triggering the release of chemicals that constrict blood flow through the arteries.
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