Cardiologist Tiffany Di Pietro explains how noise pollution triggers stress responses that damage the heart over time. Repeated startling sounds raise cortisol and adrenaline, eventually elevating blood pressure and causing vascular dysfunction. The WHO recommends keeping nighttime noise below 40 decibels to protect cardiovascular health.
Have you ever been awakened by a loud siren or a plane flying overhead? New research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds such noise pollution may have an effect on your heart health. The researchers compared unexpected or long-term environmental noise to other risk factors of heart disease like obesity and high blood pressure. Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro is a cardiologist and preventative healthcare expert.. She joins me now via Skype from Florida. All right, so, Doctor, this new research suggests noise pollution may increase the risk of heart disease. What does noise do to the body that can lead to health problems?
It's really two separate things. So when we think about noise pollution, the first thing is that startling type of noise that you have. So you get honked at, you know, if you're in the streets of New York and you get honked at, you kind of get startled and you feel your heart race. So it's episodes like that over long periods of time that tend to add up and can potentially cause damage to the heart over a long period of time. And then on the flip side of that, it's the awakenings that can happen at night. So you're sleeping and you might not realize you're getting to be fully awake, but you're really getting out of those deep levels of sleep. You move more, you're not in your REM sleep, and sleep is extraordinarily important when it comes to heart health and overall health in general.
Yeah, just how important is sleep for overall health and heart health specifically?
It's extraordinarily important. You know, sleep is, is necessary to humans. We need it to regulate all of our hormones. Our heart needs good sleep at night for oxygen consumption, which is why patients and people that have obstructive sleep apnea are at a much higher risk of having heart arrhythmias and heart attacks. So sleep is extraordinarily important, and it's really not gauged as it should be when people are seeing their doctors. Sleep is as important as having good cholesterol, as important as having good blood pressure.
Well, people who are exposed to loud noises often live in large cities. Are there perhaps other factors in those particular environments in addition to noise pollution that can affect heart health?
I mean, potentially. But then when you look at the healthiest and the unhealthiest cities in America, there's quite a few of the healthiest cities in America, like San Francisco and Washington, D.C., who are, who are very healthy. So I'm not sure if it's because people are counteracting the, the negative aspects with being— having a very healthy lifestyle. But, you know, I think when we're looking at this study and the noise pollution itself, You know, where you might be in New York, I think that's where you are, versus me in Fort Lauderdale, there's not one noise outside my window right now. Versus I'm listening to a lot of noise behind you, so.
Right, I know. And you know what, I didn't even notice it, Doctor, until you just mentioned it. I think we do get desensitized here in New York City. But let me ask you—
I was there not that long ago, and I was startled every 5 seconds I turned around.
And I'm the opposite. When I go to places like Washington, D.C., for instance, I'm startled at how quiet it is. But let me ask you, if someone is exposed to noise pollution over a long period of time, how might that impact impact them in the long term, even if the noises are not particularly loud?
It can increase blood pressure. And again, we're looking at small episodes over long periods of time. So initially when that happens, your heart races, your cortisol levels go up, your adrenaline levels go up, so your blood pressure goes up. Over time, increased blood pressure, increased cholesterol, increased vascular dysfunction, so the arterial walls of the coronaries and the different arteries of the, of the body become a little dysfunctional and they don't work as well. And those Arteries are extraordinarily important to protect you from having something bad happen.
So can you just explain the difference here, how the body responds to certain sounds when they are unexpected versus when they are anticipated noises?
Very easy analogy. It's like when you see the sirens behind you and you think you're gonna get pulled over and your heart starts racing and your blood pressure goes up. It's very similar. You know, when you're expecting the sound, if you're at a sports game, you're expecting the sound. You see the ball going down the court and you know what's gonna happen and your adrenaline might go up because you're excited, but it's a little different it ramps up versus being completely normal and then you get startled and your heart rate goes from 80 to 140 very quickly and your heart doesn't like that. It likes to know what's going to happen to it.
Well, is there anything people can do to mitigate these risks besides moving out of the city? And is there perhaps some kind of policy prescription here? Is there anything lawmakers, for instance, can do to try to cut down on the amount of noise pollution that people are exposed to?
Sure. So besides obviously the wearing ear protection and things that would make common sense, but in Europe, for instance, there's actually guidelines. The World Health Organization actually came out with a very large study, and there's guidelines in Europe. And they try and keep their decibels down because really it's driven via sleep and the heart issues like we've been talking about. So in Europe, they try and keep below 40 decibels to have proper sleep and below 55 decibels you know, out in the public to decrease risk of any adverse cardiac events. So when it comes to public noise, it really will depend on lawmakers, you know, having some, some new regulations in regards to noise pollutions in our larger metro cities.
All right, Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro, thanks so much, doctor.
Thanks, have a good one.
