BASS PRO MIDWEEK MOTIVATION - Get Away From the Noise

Hello runner friends!

Welcome back to the Bass Pro Fitness Series

MIDWEEK M😊TIVATI😊N blog

Now let's get started by talking about excessive noise. If this is a subject you haven't thought about before, you're not alone. It was certainly one I never gave much thought to. That was until Monday when my husband's surgery took me away from running the peaceful, quiet, and solitary trails of my hometown to running the streets surrounding the Mizzou Orthopedic Institute in Columbia, MO.

After arriving early that morning to help get my husband checked in and prepped for a full knee replacement, I headed out for a few miles after they took him back for surgery to pray and quiet my anxious thoughts, knowing I'd have at least 90 minutes before I had to be back at the clinic.

But, let me tell you, the majority of that run was anything but peaceful. The area surrounding the surgery center (which includes a large college campus, a major sports stadium, a huge hospital and a network of other medical centers and related facilities) was exceedingly busy and the traffic was nonstop and noisy. No matter what road I turned down, I couldn't get away from the clamor, cacophony, and commotion all around me. "So much for a peaceful run," I found myself saying.

Thankfully that all changed near the end of my workout when I discovered a quaint trail that was lined with trees and the sounds of nature which, to my utter delight, blocked out most of the city clatter. To say that I experienced immediate joy and delight would be an understatement! The serenity and stillness of the gravel path brought instant relief from the nervousness and tension that had been building up within me, and the time in nature (albeit short) refreshed my spirit in a way that only nature can. 

Knowing how much just a small bit of noise pollution affected me, I decided to look into the connection between noise and health. And this is what I found according to Harvard Medical who concluded that noise pollution is more than just a nuisance... it's a health risk.

They went on to say:

For half a century, U.S. agencies such as the EPA have deemed noise pollution “a growing danger to the health and welfare of the Nation’s population.” The European Environmental Agency reports that noise ranks second only to air pollution as the environmental exposure most harmful to public health.

Yet, in sectors from government regulation to health care practice, the threats posed by noise remain “often underestimated,” according to the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise.

Researchers and clinicians are trying to change this. They’ve shown that noise pollution not only drives hearing loss, tinnitus, and hypersensitivity to sound, but can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes; sleep disturbances; stress; mental health and cognition problems, including memory impairment and attention deficits; childhood learning delays; and low birth weight. Scientists are investigating other possible links, including to dementia...

Estimates hold that chronic noise exposure contributes to 48,000 new cases of heart disease in Europe each year and disrupts the sleep of 6.5 million people...

Another branch of inquiry focuses on how vibrations from noise can cause impairments. Part of the answer lies in the stress-response system. Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. Yet, even those who tune out noise pollution, whether when awake or asleep, experience autonomic stress reactions.

Ahmed Tawakol, an HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Michael Osborne, an HMS instructor in medicine at Mass General, have used advanced PET scanning to show that transportation noise is associated with heightened activity of the amygdala relative to regulatory cortical regions. Amygdalar activity can trigger stress pathways, including inflammation, that can lead to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Participants with a higher ratio of amygdalar to cortical activity had more risk for adverse outcomes in follow-up. The link persisted even after accounting for other disease risk factors.

In the clinic, Tawakol and Osborne say that evidence supports strategic intervention rather than trying to squeeze questions about noise into each patient encounter.

“If a patient mentions noise as a cause of stress, especially if they have or are at risk of cardiovascular disease, I’d certainly recommend personal noise mitigation strategies and stress reduction techniques,” Osborne says.

I don't know about you, but I found that research extremely interesting! And it backs up what I already knew to be true. Trails and quiet time spent in nature are good for our minds, bodies, spirits and souls. So much so, that every runner should find a place where they can routinely go where the only noises that can be heard are the sounds of the birds singing, the rush of the wind blowing, the trickling of a stream, and the echoes of footsteps hitting the ground.

If you ask me, this is the ultimate personal noise mitigation strategy and stress reduction technique that anyone could ever have!

So, do your research and find a solitary spot to escape to regularly friends. Every walk and run with nature brings rewards and that means you'll be the better for each and every one you take. 
Happy Running!