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EFFECTS ON HEALTH
In a United Kingdom community study, associations were examined between noise
exposure, noise sensitivity, subjective symptoms and sleep disturbance in a random
sample of 543 adults (Smith, 2003). Perceived noise exposure was related to subjective
health, but this association became non-significant after adjustment for negative
affectivity. In a similar way, adjustment for negative affectivity eliminated the association
between noise sensitivity and subjective health. Thus, it was suggested that noise
sensitivity was merely a proxy measure of negative affectivity or neuroticism.
However, although this means that noise sensitivity is not specific to noise, the more
recent analyses suggest that high levels of trait anxiety or neuroticism may be an indicator
of vulnerability to noise effects and could put people at risk of adverse psychological
effects from noise, even if they do not increase the risk of physical ill health.
4.8.11 MENTAL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF INSOMNIA
Transient insomnia is usually accompanied by reports of daytime sleepiness and performance
impairment the next day. Chronic insomnia is generally associated with
poorer emotional and physical health. Several large-scale epidemiological studies of
the general adult population have shown that between one third and one half of people
who complain of chronic insomnia are also diagnosable with primary psychiatric
disorders, mostly anxiety and mood disorders. Mellinger, Balter and Uhlenhuth
(1985) found that 17% of adults reported “a lot” of trouble falling asleep or staying
asleep over the past year; 47% of them had high levels of psychological distress,
with symptom complexes suggestive of depression and anxiety disorders. In contrast,
only 11% of individuals with no history of insomnia showed elevated levels of
psychiatric symptoms. In a survey of almost 8000 individuals, Ford and Kamerow
(1989) reported that 10% had suffered from significant insomnia for at least a twoweek
period during the previous six months; 40% of the insomniacs met criteria for
psychiatric disorders, with the majority being anxiety disorders and depression; only
16% of those with no sleep complaints had psychiatric illness.
Breslau et al. (1996) found a strong correlation between lifetime prevalence of sleep
problems and psychiatric disorders, with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse
disorders being the most common. Similar results have been found by Vollrath, Wicki
and Angst (1989), Chang et al. (1997) and Dryman and Eaton (1991). In a large-scale
European population-based study (Ohayon and Roth, 2003), it was found that
insomnia more often precedes rather than follows incident cases of mood disorders.
Insomniacs not only have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, but they also have
increased rates of various kinds of psychological symptoms: patients with insomnia
reported increased psychological stress and/or decreased ability to cope with stress
according to surveys of the American (Roth and Ancoli-Israel, 1999) and Japanese (Kim
et al., 2000) population. Almost 80% of insomniacs had a significant increase on one or
more clinical scales on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
(Kalogjera-Sackellares and Cartwright, 1997). Even people whose insomnia was due to
identified medical factors showed elevation on the MMPI, suggesting a possible causal
relationship or specific association between insomnia and psychiatric symptomatology.
Compared to good sleepers, severe insomniacs reported more medical problems, had
more GP office visits, were hospitalized twice as often and used more medication. Severe
insomniacs had a higher rate of absenteeism, missing work twice as often as did good
sleepers. They also had more problems at work (including decreased concentration, difficulty
performing duties and more work-related accidents) (Leger et al., 2002).
NIGHT NOISE GUIDELINES FOR EUROPE