How Traffic Noise Can Harm Your Mental Health

Living next to a busy road can be exhausting, with the noise often starting early in the morning and continuing late into the night. Even if you try to ignore it, traffic noise can make it hard to relax at home.

Studies have shown that long-term noise can not only affect sleep, but also raise stress levels and increase the risk of heart problems.

And now scientists have found that traffic noise may affect the mental health of those who grow up with it.

A large study followed about 114,000 young people between 2007 and 2016. At the start of the study, the participants were between 8 and 21 years old.

By early adulthood, about one in 10 participants had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety. And when the researchers compared these results with traffic noise levels, they found a clear pattern — people who had lived with higher levels of road traffic noise were more likely to develop these mental health problems.

The study found that for every 10-decibel increase in road noise, the risk of depression increased by about 5%, and the risk of anxiety increased by about 4%.

The risk increased further when noise levels were above about 53 decibels, which is close to the noise limit for homes recommended by the World Health Organization.

A normal conversation is usually between about 50 and 65 decibels. Road noise can be as high as about 85 decibels in heavy traffic.

The researchers also checked for other factors that can affect mental health, such as air pollution, green space and family background. But even after considering these factors, the link between traffic noise and mental health remained.

The study doesn’t prove that traffic noise directly causes depression or anxiety. But it shows that long-term exposure to noise is an important risk factor, and reducing traffic noise near homes could help protect both physical and mental health over time.