Селитренное городище

NIGHT NOISE IS DETRIMENTAL TO HEALTH. THE NEW FINDINGS

When you nighttime sleep is disturbed by a noise, your risks to get into an accident will be 46 percent higher even if you stay home, as opposed to the lucky ones whose sleep is undisturbed. That?s the conclusion put forth the experts of the World Health Organization who studied the impact of the living conditions on health. The research was conducted in 8 European cities and involved 8519 people in 3373 families.

The living conditions that we live in and everything that surrounds our dwelling place can impact our health. Noise, cold and hot temperatures, harmful insects, chemicals, mold, dampness or a lack of vegetation in our neighborhood. Strange as may seem, people are most typically electrocuted, suffer from burns and poisonings while staying home.

Some 10 million people from the EU countries only were treated for the domestically inflicted injuries. 42,000 of them died due to injuries. Many domestic injuries are caused by defective design or maintenance characteristics of the buildings e.g. lack of illumination or louse maintenance quality.

At times domestic injuries are due to the disruption of a restful sleep. A third of all Europeans or more than 350 million of people complain of the sleep disorders, according to a recent study. While the sleep disorders of 35 million are attributed to various health problems, some 70 million have their sleep disrupted due to impact of the environment, a noise one first and foremost.

?The Green Report? on the issue of noise that has been adopted recently by the EU says that from 10 to 15 percent of Europe?s population are subjected to noise impact exceeding 55 decibels (dB) that sometimes goes over 65 dB. Therefore the majority of the people have no favorable sleep conditions corresponding with the WHO recommendations i.e. the noise level should be under 30 dB for a 8-hour sleep.

The living conditions and city environment are closely linked. The recent surveys show that the city residents who live or frequently visit the green belt are less prone to obesity. The mental well-being of a person is based on the comfortable living conditions, that?s an opinion that has been gaining more recognition lately.

The percentage of the population with impaired moving function is on the rise due to overall ageing of the world population. Those with impaired mobility stay in most of the time. Most countries including Russia were taken aback by those new developments. An increasingly large number of people have to live a hard life because their apartments aren?t suitable for the needs of the disabled people. The German experts estimate that 14 percent of the Germans aged between 65 to 79 and 33 percent of the octogenarians experience difficulties while using the stairs.

The level of air renewal can be lowered due to bad ventilation thus increasing the air pollution and the formation of mold. It can also trigger or aggravate the spread of respiratory diseases and allergies. Besides, the air inside the living quarters is often polluted with a cigarette smoke, therefore it becomes a hotbed of asthma, allergic and cardiovascular conditions.

The UE ministerial conference on environment and health protection is slated for June this year in Budapest. The slogan of the conference reads: ?The future is for our children?. The issue of housing-related impact on health is on the agenda.

You boys make much noise

The following figures show the noise levels produced by some machines and equipment:

The ticking of a wrist watch is measured at 10 dB; a clock is measured at 30dB. We produce a noise of 20 dB by speaking in whispers; it goes up to 40 dB when we speak in a low voice. A regular conversation reaches the level of 60 dB. The noise coming from a quiet city street is 50 dB; a noisy one measures 70 dB.

80 dB of noise are considered detrimental to health. A pneumatic chipper sounds at 90 dB; a forging shop produces a full 100 dB; a fire alarm screams up to 130dB; music playing really loud can reach 110dB; a jet plane makes a roaring noise of 150 dB;
a 180 dB noise is thought to be lethal to a human. The sound blasting weapons developed by different countries should have produced 200 dB.