NOISE : gives you a pot belly

What type of noise are you exposed ?

To answer this question you need to know what actually is noise?

Noise means any unwanted sound. Sounds, particularly loud ones, that disturb people or make it difficult to hear wanted sounds, are noise.

There is a bad news for people who are regularly exposed to

combination of road, rail 

and plane noise, as 

 according to new Swedish study are at a high risk of developing a pot belly.

Exposure to a combination of road traffic, rail, and aircraft noise may pose the greatest risk of acquiring a spare tyre - otherwise known as central obesity, and thought to be one of the most harmful types of fat deposition around the body, the finding suggests

Noise exposure may be an important physiological stressor and bump up the production of the hormone cortisol, high levels of which are thought to have a role in fat deposition around the middle of the body.

"This may explain why the effects of noise were mainly seen for markers of central obesity, such as waist circumference and waist-hip ratio, rather than for generalised obesity, measured by BMI (Body Mass Index)," the study said

The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a value derived from the mass (weight) and height of an individual. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height

A sound's loudness is measured in decibels (dB). Normal conversation is about 60 dB, a lawn mower is about 90 dB, and a loud rock concert is about 120 dB .

In general, sounds above 85 are harmful, depending on how long and how often you are exposed to them and whether you wear hearing protection, such as earplugs or earmuffs.

The researchers assessed how much road traffic, rail, and aircraft noise 5,075 people living in five suburban and rural areas around Stockholm, Sweden, had been exposed to since 1999.

They did this by using official figures on road and rail traffic noise levels and flow.

Between 2002 and 2006, when they were aged between 43 and 66, they completed a detailed questionnaire covering lifestyle, current state of health, levels of psychological distress, insomnia and job strain.

The researchers found no link between road traffic noise and BMI. But there was an association between road traffic noise and waist size, with a 0.21 cm increase for every additional five decibel (dB) increase in exposure, although this was only significant among women.

Similarly, there was a link to waist:hip ratio, with a change of 0.16cm for every five dB increase in noise exposure to road traffic. This association was stronger in men.

A larger waist was significantly associated with exposure to any of the three sources of noise, but thefor link was strongest  for aircraft noise; a larger waist:hip ratio was associated with road traffic and aircraft noise only.

So residents near a airport area specially men would be seen with a high waist:hip ratio.

There seemed to be a cumulative effect, however: the more sources of noise pollution a person was exposed to at the same time, the greater their risk of central obesity seemed to be.

The heightened risk of a larger waist rose from 25 per cent among those exposed to only one source to almost double for those exposed to all three sources

"Exposure to traffic noise is increasing because of ongoing urbanization and increasing traffic volumes,. "It is important to fully assess the public health consequences of this development."

The findings of this study were not influenced by socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, or exposure to ambient air pollution from local road traffic.

But age was an influential factor, with associations between central obesity and road traffic noise only found for those below the age of 60.

The FAA says that a maximum day-night average sound level of 65 dB is incompatible with residential communities. Noise associated with aircraft does not only affect people on the ground, but also those within the aircraft .Simulated aircraft noise at 65 dB(A) has been shown to negatively affect individuals’ memory and recall of auditory information.

Now if you encounter with few people of a particular society 

or occupation having their mid section raised or a large

 waist:hip ratio you can relate with the above study.

What I personally suggest is that If your workplace or residential area has harmful noise levels, plan ahead and wear hearing protection. Wearing hearing protectors can help prevent damage from both moderate and loud noise.