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Should we be counting decibels like we count calories? A growing number of experts believe that loud modern life is making us ill, and that it’s time to go on a ‘noise diet,’ the Daily Mail reports. 

We all know that excessive noise puts our hearing at risk. But increasingly there’s evidence that it affects our health, too.

Typically, the problem is blaring road traffic or the racket of trains and planes, and studies have linked this to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

One Danish study, published in the European Heart Journal in 2011, found that for every ten-decibel increase in nearby road noise, the risk of stroke for those aged over 65 increased by more than a quarter.

Meanwhile, in 2013, researchers at Imperial College London and King’s College London found that people who lived near Heathrow were at greater risk of being admitted to hospital or dying prematurely.

And last week, for the first time, noise pollution caused by road traffic was linked to the growing obesity crisis. Researchers at the prestigious Karolinska Institute, in Sweden, found people who lived near a busy road were more likely to gain weight around their middle than those whose homes were in quieter neighbourhoods.

People who lived under a flight path or near a railway also had a greater risk of being overweight, with those who were exposed to all three types of traffic pollution at double the risk of a larger waist.

So how does noise actually affect health? ‘Noise is a stressor that raises our arousal levels, influencing the nervous system and hormone levels in the body,’ says Stephen Stansfeld, professor of psychiatry at Queen Mary, University of London.

‘We are programmed to respond to noise, particularly if it represents a threat — and when we are under stress, the body secretes “fight or flight” hormones including cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are designed to get you out of danger.

‘But these hormones also raise heart rate, blood pressure and encourage the body to lay down emergency fat supplies.’