Can Noise Pollution Impact Mental Health Along With Physical Health?

As we celebrate Diwali and burn firecrackers, we should also know that the noise pollution that we are creating might be severely impacting some people more than others.

This is the time of the year when almost the entire world is burning firecrackers to celebrate Diwali. While we celebrate festivals, we should also keep in mind that some of our activities might be causing stress to some other people. Burning firecrackers is fun, exciting and beautiful but it also cause both air and noise pollution. The aspect of noise pollution in particular has a range of impacts on peoples physical and mental health for example, increased stress levels, sleep disturbance, or hearing damage. People often tend to overlook that loud noise can be acutely disturbing for some people more than others. Keeping this in consideration let us see how experts say noise pollution impacts mental health.

Impacts Of Noise Pollution On Mental Health

There is a huge difference between sound and noise. Noise can impact people's mental health and experts say that it happens a lot during this time of the year. Even when a person is sleeping, our brain is monitoring for the sounds that signify danger. A sudden loud noise as a result can trigger stress or anxiety. If this disturbance continues for a long time, a persons stress sensitivity tends to start increasing. The more the person is exposed to loud noise, the more there stress or anxiety can get triggered and both stress and anxiety are also interconnected. If a person feels they cannot control the amount of noise in their environment, its impact on their mental health intensifies. Environmental noise is also a common cause of sleep disturbance.

• People might find it difficult to fall asleep
• People might experience erratic and disturbed sleep because of loud noise which can affect their energy and productivity the next day.
• People might end up waking up before time therefore not getting the required amount of sleep
• People might feel irritated, frustrated, constantly on edge and angry.

Sounds can also reduce the depth and quality of sleep, altering the amount of rapid eye movement sleep. This can impact a person's mood and ability to concentrate.

Children Are Especially Impacted By This

A review conducted in 2018 stated that children are especially very vulnerable to diseases due to extreme loud noise. It can also lead to noise-induced hearing loss. If a child is exposed to noise for 8 hours or more everyday, this could cause serious damages in their ability to hear sounds of certain frequencies. As per an article published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics, as children grow up and are exposed to this kind of atmosphere, it can impact their, hearing, brain development and their overall development. Noise pollution can also impact them at any stage in their life, it is not a rule that only children get severely impacted. This can happen throughout their growing stage. This may affect a child's behavior, their ability to form relationships, and their confidence. They can also develop high blood pressure due to chronic exposure to sound.

Additionally, unwanted or loud noise at school or home may make it challenging for children to learn. They may experience more difficulty with:

• concentration
• communication and speech development
• cognitive performance