We all know how vital peace and quiet is in our everyday lives but how many of us can say that we achieve it? With April being Stress Awareness Month, we talk about how noise can be a major stressor on our health.
What is stress? According to the Stress Management Society, stress “ is primarily a physical response. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to ‘fight or flight’ mode, releasing a complex mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare the body for physical action.” It is this reaction that has helped us humans to protect ourselves and survive in some of the hardest conditions. However, problems occur when we continually suffer from disproportionate levels of stress caused by physical, mental and emotional triggers. Noise can be one of them.
The need for silence Day to day, we are surrounded by a cacophony of noise. From our mobile phone ringing, music blaring from headphones, the sounds on our daily commute and loud neighbours, noise pollution is everywhere, and majority of the time it’s unwanted. This intrusive noise can be irritating and sustained over a long period of time can be detrimental to our health. There has been a plethora of studies conducted which have highlighted links between excessive noise with heart disease, hearing loss, a spike in stress hormones and even insomnia. And according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), noise pollution is the second biggest environmental threat to health after air pollution. It’s something that shouldn’t be ignored.
How Echo Barrier helps to mitigate noise? Here at Echo Barrier, we have seen first-hand the detrimental effects that noise can have on people’s health. Because of this, we have developed our market leading products to help reduce noise and protect the health of workers and local communities. Used worldwide and for a variety of industries including construction, live events and rail works, our acoustic barriers are tested and proven to give up to 40dB noise control. And we are proud holders of the coveted Quiet Mark, which is only given to organisations and products who can prove that they help reduce noise, meaning we have the expertise and products available to help with noise mitigation in an array of situations.
For more information or to discuss your needs, please call the team on +44 (0)845 561 3246 or contact us via our website.