BENGALURU: Do you think loss of time and feeling frustrated are the only side effects of being stuck in a traffic jam?
With advances in medical sciences and economic progress, the life expectancy of humans has increased over the past few years. In India, life expectancy of 32 years at independence has risen to around 68 years.
With advances in technology and rapid urbanisation, there are new challenges that arise. Traffic congestion is one such challenge. The health hazards that these traffic jams pose to us on a day-to-day basis is poorly understood.
Physical as well as mental effects of traffic jams
Physical effects of traffic congestion occur due to air pollution and noise pollution. As we remain outdoors in long winding traffic jams we are exposed to black carbon /fine particles /nitrogen dioxide/nitric oxide. In demographic studies that have evaluated the effect of air pollution on cardiovascular health, it has been observed that people living in areas with higher pollution have higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarctions (heart attack) and higher number of hospital re-admissions.
Traffic jams also expose us to high levels of noise pollution with unnecessary honking increasing the already high decibel levels. Noise pollution has various deleterious effects including hearing loss, cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular effects.
Noise causes increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and high sympathetic activity which results in higher incidence of heart attacks. WHO estimates that 61,000 lives are lost due to cardiovascular disease in Europe annually as a result of noise pollution.
Traffic jams also cause significant amount of “stress” in people who are stuck in these jams. Stress is very difficult to quantify and assess. However, it has been seen that stress causes increase in the rate of heart attacks and also causes an increase in the tendency of blood to clot.
As you see, traffic jams pose significant cardiovascular health hazards to commuters.
Traffic congestion is not going away anytime soon. We need to smarten up, and take all efforts to reduce air and noise pollution as well as reduce the stress levels while driving. – Author is consultant - interventional cardiology at Aster CMI Hospital
How to reduce the traffic effects?
Avoid taking out personal vehicles when possible.
Avoid honking unnecessarily.
Service vehicles regularly and phase out old vehicles to reduce air and noise pollution.
Increased utilisation of electric vehicles and public transport.
Use work from home options whenever possible.
Manage your stress – exercise regularly and take care of your emotional health.