Noisy jobs and risk of heart attack

Chronic exposure to noise at work has been shown to increase the risk of high blood pressure and people working noisy jobs may have a higher chance of heart attack as well.Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, followed 27,464 people who had worked at a lumber mill for at least one year, noting who had a heart attack. They found that people who were exposed to the most noise as part of their job at lumber mills were 50 percent more likely to have a heart attack over a 45-year period. They explained that the workers in this study were exposed to noise from saw blades, machinery and other equipment. Millions of workers are routinely exposed to levels of noise that can damage hearing at work, mostly from jobs in manufacturing, transportation and the military.In a similar study, researchers from the Federal Environmental Agency, Germany, compared exposures to traffic noise in 1881 heart attack patients and 2234 people who had not experienced heart attack. They found that men who lived by noisy road traffic for at least 10 years were 80 percent more likely to experience a heart attack. Noise tells our body that we are in a stressful situation. Humans, like most animals, are hardwired to react to loud noise as a 'warning' of something about to happen.So when people are around loud noises, their bodies react, perhaps by increasing heart rate and blood pressure, or inducing hormonal changes. However, over time, chronic noise can cause those changes to become permanent, keeping a worker's blood pressure constantly high, or inducing them to gain weight - both of which can increase the risk of heart problems.To protect workers, the researchers suggested that employers implement changes in the workplace that cut back on noise, rotate workers between noisy and quieter shifts, and offer them earplugs or other devices to protect their hearing. However, he noted that it's not clear whether hearing protection will save people's hearts from the long-term effect of noise.

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