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Noise Pollution
Posted on 2008.06.20 at 11:02
It turns out that the loudest place on the planet is a major intersection that:
a) serves as the detour for an interstate highway
b) is a commuting route for a major university, state capital, and the largest city in the state
c) has a gas station
d) is a major construction site for a collapsed bridge
e) includes a bridge over the largest river in the U.S.
Stick yourself in the attic room in the corner facing this intersection, and your stress level might go up just a bit. When I talk on the phone, I have to close the windows. People ask me, "Are you outside?" The volume on my computer (for the radio, music, DVDs, etc.) is pretty much turned up all the way all the time.
A few quotes from a Washington Post article about the effects of noise pollution:
"In a study of students attending an elementary school near noisy train tracks in New York, for example, researchers showed that by the time the students reached sixth grade, those whose classrooms faced the train were a year behind those whose classrooms were on the quiet side of the building. After noise reduction materials were installed in the classrooms and around the tracks, reading scores in the two groups equalized, strengthening the case that noise was the culprit."
"Children near the working airports had significantly higher levels of adrenaline and cortisol -- the body's so-called stress hormones"--resulting in higher blood pressure and greater risk of heart disease.
"Studies have shown that chronic night noise not only leaves you shrouded in a fog of fatigue, irritability and poor concentration, but also activates the stress response as you sleep."
I wear earplugs at night and can still hear the trucks backing up--because, of course, they do construction all night long. (Which is good. The bridge needs to be fixed. At some point I might write on the experience of being so near the site of a tragedy, but for now, the stressor I can identify is the relentless beeping, knocking, revving, pounding, rumbling.)
On top of this, the old owners stole the air conditioners out of the storage space before the closing last week, despite having promised a/c to us and despite, according to the new owner, having included them in the purchase agreement. So by about 2pm until about 4am, my room is a sweltering box of noise.
I think I'm going to have to start lugging my stuff down to the coffee shop down the road to study. Sigh.
Okay, I'm done bitching.
On a positive note, I've started doing a short yoga routine most mornings, sparked by a class offered Saturday mornings at a meditation center about 2 miles down the road.
a) serves as the detour for an interstate highway
b) is a commuting route for a major university, state capital, and the largest city in the state
c) has a gas station
d) is a major construction site for a collapsed bridge
e) includes a bridge over the largest river in the U.S.
Stick yourself in the attic room in the corner facing this intersection, and your stress level might go up just a bit. When I talk on the phone, I have to close the windows. People ask me, "Are you outside?" The volume on my computer (for the radio, music, DVDs, etc.) is pretty much turned up all the way all the time.
A few quotes from a Washington Post article about the effects of noise pollution:
"In a study of students attending an elementary school near noisy train tracks in New York, for example, researchers showed that by the time the students reached sixth grade, those whose classrooms faced the train were a year behind those whose classrooms were on the quiet side of the building. After noise reduction materials were installed in the classrooms and around the tracks, reading scores in the two groups equalized, strengthening the case that noise was the culprit."
"Children near the working airports had significantly higher levels of adrenaline and cortisol -- the body's so-called stress hormones"--resulting in higher blood pressure and greater risk of heart disease.
"Studies have shown that chronic night noise not only leaves you shrouded in a fog of fatigue, irritability and poor concentration, but also activates the stress response as you sleep."
I wear earplugs at night and can still hear the trucks backing up--because, of course, they do construction all night long. (Which is good. The bridge needs to be fixed. At some point I might write on the experience of being so near the site of a tragedy, but for now, the stressor I can identify is the relentless beeping, knocking, revving, pounding, rumbling.)
On top of this, the old owners stole the air conditioners out of the storage space before the closing last week, despite having promised a/c to us and despite, according to the new owner, having included them in the purchase agreement. So by about 2pm until about 4am, my room is a sweltering box of noise.
I think I'm going to have to start lugging my stuff down to the coffee shop down the road to study. Sigh.
Okay, I'm done bitching.
On a positive note, I've started doing a short yoga routine most mornings, sparked by a class offered Saturday mornings at a meditation center about 2 miles down the road.