Living on a busy street could drive you to snore.
Sleepers exposed to traffic pollution are more likely to saw logs and
suffer daytime drowsiness, according to a study being unveiled at the
annual European Respiratory Society (ERS) meeting in London this week.
Researchers from Bergen University
in Norway studied 12,000 snoozers across Europe, and discovered that
25% of men snored heavily at least three nights a week, and those
slumbering surrounded by toxic fumes and loud noises high-traffic areas
were most likely to snore. A quarter of women who lived near motorways,
on the other hand, were more likely to suffer extreme daytime sleepiness
rather than snore.
“We know that people exposed to secondary cigarette smoking are more
likely to snore,” Ane Johannessen, an epidemiologist at Bergen
University behind the report, told The Times U.K. “So we wondered if the toxins from traffic pollution might also be linked to snoring.”
They are — but really only in men.
The study found that the gases and particles released in vehicle
exhaust combined with the sounds of blaring horns and rumbling motors,
disrupts sleep. Professor Stephen Holgate, the ERS’s science council
chairman, warned that living by a main road hurts the lungs as much as
smoking 10 cigarettes a day, especially when inhaling diesel fumes.
But the scientists aren’t yet sure why the side effects of a bad
night’s sleep differed between the sexes so that men snore, and women
need a nap. “One could speculate whether women who have husbands who
snore experience more daytime sleepiness, but the key is understanding
the impact of pollution,” Johannessen and her colleagues wrote.
If you can’t pack up and move away from a boulevard of broken dreams
just yet, try sound-proofing your room, wearing earbuds and making sure
your windows are shut tight to keep out pollutants and get some peace
and quiet at bedtime. And the ERS suggests limiting your exposure to
auto exhaust while walking outside by sticking to quieter back streets.
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