Campaigners against airport expansion have some new evidence to support their case. A study of 140 people living near four European airports concludes that loud night-time noise raises blood pressure, even when people are asleep.
The largest increases occurred when the sleepers experienced noise above 35 decibels – equivalent to an aircraft passing overhead or a bedfellow snoring. “We saw the same effects regardless of the source of the noise,” says Lars Jarup of Imperial College London, who co-authored the report (European Heart Journal, ).
On average, aircraft noise temporarily raised systolic blood pressure by 6.2 millimetres of mercury…
