As Noise Rises, So May Heart Risks
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Loud, grating noise is not just annoying, it can increase the risk of a heart attack, researchers report.
This increase in risk appears to be caused by the physiological effects of environmental and work noise, the German research team found.
"Our results demonstrate that chronic noise exposure is associated with a mildly to moderately increased risk of heart attack," researcher Dr. Stefan Willich, director of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin, said in a prepared statement.
"The increase appears more closely associated with actual sound levels rather than with subjective annoyance. However, there were differences between men and women and these need further investigation," he noted.
Oh great. I will have to add this to my long list of possible future health concerned. Or maybe they are "now" concerns. Come to think of it, I just dimissed my heartburn to "cooky"'s bad cooking. Mmmmmmm. Read more on Forbes.com