Nachtlärminduzierte Schlafstörungen und Herz-Kreislauf-Risiko

Impairment of sleep in the sense of insomnias, i.e. difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep, early morning awakening and chronical unrestful sleep is widespread in the population and are associated with a variety of physical and mental health disorders. The environmental causes of insomnia include a number of factors, with nighttime noise being an important cause. Recent data from the European Environment Agency shows that environmental noise (road traffic, railway, aircraft and industrial noise) causes severe sleep disorders among 6.5 million people in Europe. New epidemiological and mechanistic field studies show that in particular night traffic noise can lead, among other things, to impaired vascular function, thrombo-inflammatory changes, an increase in stress hormones and increased blood pressure, representing significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. According to the European Environment Agency, environmental noise causes 48000 additional cases of ischemic heart disease and 12000 premature deaths each year.