In a recent study published in Environment International , researchers investigated the associations between aircraft noise and obesity among female nurses living near 90 United States (US) airports. Study: Aircraft noise exposure and body mass index among female participants in two Nurses’ Health Study prospective cohorts living around 90 airports in the United States . Image Credit: Steve Mann/Shutterstock.
com Aircraft noise exposure is associated with various health problems, including poor sleep, hypertension, stroke, psychological health, cancer, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and death. Obesity is an understudied mechanism associated with stress responses that influence physiological, metabolic, and immunological function. Sustained stress reactions raise the risk of obesity.
Aircraft noise is associated with higher salivary cortisol levels in women and lower sleep quality. Chronic psychological stress may also cause increased stress reactions to perceived stimuli. Studies associate environmental noise with general and central obesity, with a significant correlation between central obesity and diabetes.
However, subsequent systematic evaluations found no evidence of a link between noise and obesity markers. In the present study, researchers investigated whether exposure to aircraft noise would be associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) among US nurses. The study included Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and NHS-II participants with at least one suc.
