Living near a busy road can put your health at risk

A new study has found that those who open their windows during the summer months are in increased danger of life-threatening conditions - including cardiovascular problems and dementia – as a result of the noise pollution they are exposed to.

Charlotte Clark, professor of epidemiology at St George's University of London, told The Sun newspaper: "Many of us don't think of noise as being damaging but it has a huge impact on the health of the population.

"In the UK, it is estimated that 9.5 million people are regularly exposed to harmful levels of road noise, 1.2 million for railways and one million for aircraft noise.

"This is estimated to cause 6,000 new cases of heart disease a year and 1,000 premature deaths. And it's likely these are underestimates as we are starting to see health affected at lower levels of noise."

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