# Noise Pollution

Environmental noise pollution is unwanted sound from roads, rail, aircraft, and industry. Chronic exposure raises your heart-disease risk and death, through non-hearing pathways. Here is how. Nighttime awakenings fragment your sleep. Your stress system (the HPA axis) activates, raising cortisol and adrenaline-type hormones. The resulting blood-vessel dysfunction, oxidative stress, and vascular inflammation then drive high blood pressure, heart disease, heart failure, and stroke. The 2018 WHO noise guidelines for Europe strongly recommend keeping average exposure below 53 dB (Lden) for road traffic, 54 for railway, and 45 for aircraft. (The EU's mapping threshold, under Directive 2002/49/EC, is 55 dB Lden.) The European Environment Agency's 2025 report estimates that transport noise causes about 66,000 premature deaths, 50,000 new cardiovascular cases, and 22,000 new type-2-diabetes cases a year in Europe.

## Sources

- World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. (2018). Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region. WHO Europe. https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289053563
- Münzel T, Schmidt FP, Steven S, et al.. (2018). Environmental Noise and the Cardiovascular System. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.12.015
- Münzel T, Molitor M, Kuntic M, Hahad O, Röösli M, et al.. (2024). Transportation Noise Pollution and Cardiovascular Health. Circulation Research. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323584

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_Canonical: https://usa-longevity.com/en/glossary/noise-pollution · Part of Longevity Cities · Updated 2026-06-22_