WE SHOULD FIGHT NOISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20402, 2 November 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

WE SHOULD FIGHT NOISE.

BY A PHYSICIAN.

I often wonder why as a people we ■Kill Sghfc for our rights along so many lines, and refuse to fight lor other rights which are equally as important. For instance, if garbage is not removed. if neighbouring yards are in an unsanitary. condition, n the roadway is not swept, if drinking water is not kept safe, we are up in arms at once. And yet there is something that 13 just as definitely harmful to that body ox yours as' any of the above and you tolerate it. I refer to noise. TV hat is noise ? Sorrle zona tas said thai " anv sound that disturbed repose, which startled and exhausted the human nervous system," w;i| noise. The noise from factories, tiie noises of the street, are growing worse all the time, and little if anything is being done in an organised way to stop the noises. Why is noise harmful ? Because noise startles, maks you tense, and, by keeping you tensed, tires or exhaust? the nervous system. Unfortunately, it is early in the morning when you are getting the last portion ci'your sleep that" the street or factory noises begin. This is when you sleep the lightest and so often you are thu3 unable to get to sleep again. For people who are sick at homo or 5n a jriospitai. noise is a large factor 111 retarding their recovery. It is for this reason that sleeping" drugs' are used so much these days. Xo "doctor likes to give drugs to induce fleep, but. the patient must have rest, must have relaxation. Getting rid of " tenseness" bv sleep is what the human body needs every day tt it is to do its Tv'irk properly. Being kept" alert by noises during the liours of the dav as wo endeavour to do our work, and kept, awake until late at night, and again early in the morning, is doing as much to undermine health as ether '"conditions that have been overcome ly fighting them.