Night flight noise likely to increase risk of Type 2 diabetes for those living under flightpaths
Research by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel has shown that people who live below an airport flightpath are more than 80% more likely to have type 2 diabetes than people who live in quieter areas. The findings have led scientists to suggest that aircraft noise, rather than air pollution, could be to blame. The noise of the planes overhead, when they are low and loud, is likely to have a devastating effect on the body’s metabolism, leading to increased blood sugar levels. The effect is largely from noise at night, confirming that night flights are damaging to health. The cost to the health of over-flown populations needs to be properly taken into account, and given enough significance against small economic benefits of night flights to airports and airlines (which is how the DfT assesses the issue at present). Heathrow already has – by an order of magnitude – the most people affected by night flights, with over 700,000 living within the 55 Lden noise average contours. The link to diabetes is through the body’s reaction to stress, raising blood pressure. Noise stimulates the body’s sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, leading to increased blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol. Type 2 diabetes can lead to heart disease, strokes, limb amputations and blindness. It affects over 3 million people in the UK.
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Living under flightpath roar ‘may cause diabetes’: Scientists say residents who are exposed to daily aircraft noise are 86 per cent more likely to have the type 2 condition
- New research links diabetes with people who live under loud flightpaths
- More than 700,000 people are affected by noise from London’s Heathrow
- Scientists suggest keeping windows closed at night to reduce risks of exposure
People who live below an airport flightpath are 86 per cent more likely to have type 2 diabetes than people who live in quieter areas, a new study has found.
The findings have led scientists to suggest that aircraft noise, rather than air pollution, could be to blame.
The scientists believe the noise from planes overhead has a devastating effect on the body’s metabolism, leading to increased blood sugar levels.
The researchers suspect such changes are linked to sleep disruption, and say that people can reduce their exposure to harmful noise levels simply by closing their windows at night.
According to the European Commission, more than 700,000 people are currently affected by aircraft noise from London’s Heathrow Airport alone.
The scientists said that, although most flights occur in the day, there could be a knock-on effect on night-time sleep through raised stress levels.
Type 2 diabetes – which can lead to heart disease, strokes, limb amputations and blindness – affects more than three million people in the UK.
The disease costs the NHS £2.2 million every day for prescriptions – and the new findings could have major health implications for millions of people in Britain.
According to the European Commission, more than 700,000 people are currently affected by aircraft noise from London’s Heathrow Airport alone.
The link was made by a team of scientists at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, who studied more than 2,600 adults in a bid to establish the effects of noise and air pollution.
They revealed their findings in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Dr Mayanak Patel, of the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation, said the study had come up with ‘plausible mechanisms’ for the link between noise and diabetes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4371482/Living-flightpath-roar-cause-diabetes.html
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● People who live under a flight path are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according research by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basle, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
It suggests that noise affects the body’s metabolism, leading to increased blood sugar levels. Aviation noise and that of other traffic may have a bigger impact on the onset of diabetes than air pollution, mainly through disturbed sleep, it says.
People should sleep with their windows closed to reduce the chance of being woken by aircraft overhead, the study suggests.
See also
Noise, stress, cortisol and diabetes
Noise is an environmental stressor that stimulates the body’s sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, leading to increased blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol. Past research has associated exposure to traffic noise with cardiovascular disease, and the mechanisms of action hypothesized to underlie this association suggest that noise may also increase diabetes risk.
Investigators now report that long-term exposure to residential road traffic noise was, in fact, associated with increased diabetes incidence in a Danish cohort [EHP 121(2):217–222; Sørensen et al.].
Glucocorticoid hormones, a group that includes cortisol, inhibit insulin secretion and reduce sensitivity to insulin by the liver, muscle, and fat tissue. Studies have linked sleep disturbances to low morning glucose levels, reduced insulin sensitivity, and changes in appetite regulation.
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a60/
And see also today, the likelihood of Heathrow sticking to even a six and a half hour ban on night flights.
Willie Walsh adamant Heathrow must have arrivals well before 5.30am – then full on for next 2 hours.
He won’t accept a six and a half hour ban on scheduled night flights, let alone unscheduled.
International Airlines Group (IAG), which is Heathrow’s biggest customer, has submitted its evidence to the Transport Committee, to its inquiry into the Airports NPS. IAG does not agree there should be a ban on night flights of six and a half hours, that the NPS and the DfT are proposing – hoping that would overcome local opposition to the runway. The WHO says for good health, people need 7 – 8 hours sleep, and more for some age groups. Therefore even six and a half hours is not enough. But IAG says …”the NPS does not recognise the operational flexibility required for flights to connect and deliver the associated benefits. The Government should therefore avoid unreasonable restrictions on night operations that would prevent economically valuable connections.” … from small changes IAG has made “Local communities have therefore benefited … from a reduction in noise while no additional night movements have been granted at Heathrow in return.” … if Heathrow opened at 7am, that would be 2 hours later than Frankfurt … to make the best use of the new runway, increase connectivity etc … “the first arrivals will need to be scheduled to have landed and be on-stand ready to disembark passengers by 05:30, with a high arrival movement capacity in the subsequent 1-2 hours.”
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