There are plenty of reasons for that belly fat of yours—but who knew noisy roads could be one of them?

One of the many reasons people move to the city is for its charming combination of constant activity, weird smells, and crabby drivers. (Kidding. Sort of.) Traffic noise, while annoying, is admittedly one of the most appealing parts of the city life equation: It’s the ultimate definition of going places, both literally and in the broader, more ambitious sense.

That said, it could also be doing a number on your health. Two recent unrelated studies have revealed exposure to traffic noise could be linked to increased belly fat, risk of stroke, and shortened lifespan.

The first study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, found that chronic exposure to the traffic trifecta—road, rail, and aircraft noise—may contribute to increased belly fat. Researchers analyzed government data to determine how much traffic noise 5,075 people living in Stockholm, Sweden, had been exposed to since 1999.

Researchers found that almost 70 percent of Stockholm residents were regularly exposed to traffic noise above 45 decibels. (According to the World Health Organization, any noise above 40 decibels is considered a health risk.) Over half had been exposed to one source of traffic noise, 15 percent to two sources, and 2 percent were exposed to all three.

While scientists didn’t find a link between traffic noise and overall BMI, they did notice a link between noise levels and increased risk of belly fat. More specifically, a 0.21 cm increase in waist size for every 5 decibel increase in road traffic noise exposure. What’s worse, belly fat risk rose from 25 percent among those exposed to one traffic source, and nearly doubled among those exposed to all three.

The study’s strictly observational, but researchers suggest the constant noise exposure could cause sleep disturbances, which may then lead to appetite, energy, metabolic, and cardiovascular issues. The added stress could also increase the body’s production of cortisol (the stress hormone), another factor thought to play a part in increased belly fat.

The second study, published in the European Heart Journal, analyzed data on 8.6 million people living in London between 2003 and 2010. It looked at road traffic noise levels—both during the day and at night—throughout different postal codes, and compared the data to deaths and hospital admissions in each area for adults and the elderly.

When daytime road traffic noise was more than 60 decibels, deaths were 4 percent more common among adults and the elderly than in areas where traffic noise was less than 55 decibels. Researchers feel the deaths are most likely linked to cardiovascular disease, due to increased blood pressure, sleep problems, and chronic stress from the noise.

Adults living in the noisiest areas were also 5 percent more likely to be admitted to the hospital for stroke, compared to adults living in quieter areas (this number went up to 9 percent in the elderly). Meanwhile, nighttime traffic was linked to a 5 percent increase of stroke risk in the elderly.

Being that every individual is built differently, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how the noise impacts each person specifically, but study authors feel the work raises important questions about urban noise that should be investigated further. (It might be time to invest in those noise-cancelling headphones you’ve had your eye on.)

How do you deal with the crazy amount of noise pollution?

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City woman image via Shutterstock

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We’ve gotten taller, fatter, and older, according to a story in LiveScience which outlines human evolution over the past century. How could we have changed so much in the past 100 years? Many factors are at play but it’s largely due to nutrition, hygiene, and health services.

“A big take-home point of all current studies of human evolution is that culture, particularly in the form of medicine, but also in the form of urbanization and technological support, clean air and clean water, is changing selection pressures on humans,” Stephen Stearns, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University told Live Science.

According to a recent study of British recruits, human evolution has meant the average height has increased a good 4 inches since the turn of the century, for example, and it’s largely due to all the criteria listed above. This is also true in the Netherlands, which currently has the tallest average height of 6’1. While Americans were the tallest people in the world by World War II, they’ve fallen behind. Other nations have caught up, like residents of former East Germany, who have caught up to West Germany in height.

And everyone is getting fatter, whether it’s due to a lack of exercise or calorically dense convenience foods, researchers aren’t completely sure. But globally, obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. In 2008, according to the World Health Organization, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight.

Girls are also maturing faster. Earlier puberty could also be due to childhood obesity which has also surged. In the mid-1800s-1960s girls got their periods at the average age of 17 and today the average age is 12-13 years old.

And finally, the average life expectancy has shot up from 30 years old at the turn of the century to 70 in 2012 globally. WHO predicts that life expectancy could jump to 85 for women by 2030. Monaco currently has the oldest life expectancy at 87.2 followed by Japan and Andorra. The U.S. comes in 35th at 79.8 and the nation with the worst rating is Sierra Leone at 47.5. But overall we’re vastly taller, fatter, and older–the good and the bad taken into account.

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The Longevity Revolution

 Image: John Atherton

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Life expectancy is increasing, as is quality of life for many people. So, how old are we, really?

The youthful glimmer in Betty White’s eyes speaks volumes. Although the 90-year-old’s body may be winding itself down, she’s still highly active and engaged in living. There’s no question that age is better measured as a state of mind than what shape the body’s in. Still, we are bound to these bodies, which are highly influenced by our diet and lifestyle choices. When taken care of, they can be more resilient to illness and disease, maintaining a youthful appearance and vigor up until the very end. Modern science, for all its chemical “cures,” has significantly helped to thwart diseases and preventable deaths with valuable advancements in internal medicine, surgery and early disease detection.

We can—and are—living longer. Still, stigmas exist about benchmark ages. Many people still aim to retire at 65 when they may have 30 or 40 good years left. Will this change? Are Ms. White and other youthful seniors examples of aging redefined?

Jodi Sawyer, RN says, at least for women, 40 really is the new 30 (phew!). “Women in their 40s are looking and feeling better than ever! Life no longer starts going downhill the second we hit that magic number.” While women may be more susceptible to aging stereotypes, we do also seem to be aging slower. Many women in their 40s, 50s and 60s are still the epitome of glamor, sexiness and health, even if they still dye their hair and wear push-up bras…after all, there are lots of ladies in their 20s who do this anyway.

Boomer and aging expert Dr. Ken Dychtwald calls this the “Longevity Revolution,” which, he says, may have a greater influence on humanity than both the industrial and technological revolutions combined. That’s a pretty big statement, but it also feels really right. Never before in recorded history have we lived this long. While 100 years ago, women weren’t expected to live much past age 40, now many are just beginning to start families at that age. We’ve got marathon runners gleefully sprinting across the finish line in their 80s and 90s. Dustin Hoffman just made his directorial debut at age 75. Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen perform stage antics in their 60s that many limber 20-year-olds aren’t likely to try anytime soon. While industry and technology have given us great tools for life–longer, more fulfilling lives are dictating what we do with them.

Take a stroll into decades past (I do this regularly by watching Turner Classic Movies until my boyfriend finally hides the remote) and you’ll notice that many of the actresses and actors look decades older than their actual age—at least, by our standards. A 40-year-old Humphrey Bogart could pass for 60, or even 70 today. Granted, there was a lot more cigarette smoking (particularly for Bogey) and quite a few other less-than-healthy habits back then; but it’s not just today’s health food freaks who look and feel younger.

If 40 really is the new 30, what does 70 or 100 look like? With longer lifetimes becoming the new normal, have you asked yourself what you might do with all that “extra” time? How old do you really feel? These are important questions to ask ourselves so that we’re not only prepared for the likelihood of longer lives, but so that we may live them to the fullest.

According to Dychtwald, our longer life spans will provide “time to chart a new course.” These are comforting and inspiring words as we can begin to reshape how we look at our “golden years”—no longer is it the beginning of the end, but, perhaps it’s just another beginning altogether. He adds, “We’ll have the time and resources to reverse past failures or build on past victories, perhaps changing careers, taking a sabbatical, or returning to school. With longer life spans, there will also be sufficient time to take a more active and contributing role in the lives of our children, grandchildren and community life.”

If we are indeed at the beginning of a longevity revolution, we’re all at a unique advantage. Unlike revolutions past, where the majority of the work was left to the few experts in the field, we all play a role in how we embrace aging and reshaping a world where “old” is no longer a measure of age.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: Off Their Rockers via Facebook

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A common form of illusion occurs when content is seen without context. Take, for example, how we perceive the size of an object. When we see an image of, say, an apple, on its own, without another object to compare it to, we mentally assign a certain size to the fruit based on our past experience with apples. If it looks really ripe and juicy and colorful, then we see a nice, big apple. But place it next to an extra-large orange and we see a different truth: our apple may in fact be very small. Compare the apple and the orange and the illusion is shattered.

I remember the first time I visited Cairo. I was still in my teens, and coming from the Midwestern United States I was immediately stunned by, among so many things, the masses of people and the poverty relative to the States. I had the sudden realization that most of the world lived more like this and not the way I lived back home. Illusion shattered.

Think about how you live and then visit ifitweremyhome.com. We introduced this site to you last last year to give you some idea about the size of the BP oil spill (“The Oil Spill Next Door: Size Matters”). We told how, with a click of your mouse, you could place a template of the map of the spill over your hometown – voilà, context. (From where I sit, near San Francisco, the damage engulfs Lake Tahoe and reaches all the way to Reno. That was one big apple.)

The site, developed by Andy Lintner and designed by Annette Calabrese, now has more to look at with a robust system that allows for the comparison of where and how you live to the farthest reaches of our planet. (The “disasters” function now also includes last summer’s devastating Pakistan flood.) In just a few minutes you’ll be able to do some serious work on the get-some-perspective front by doing things like this: Click U.S. Click Egypt. Learn many things, like if you were born in Egypt instead of the United States, you would use an average of 89.64 percent less electricity.

Here are 10 more U.S.-to-the-other-guys comparisons (based on averages) that’ll take the shine off of some of your illusions:

1. In South Korea, you would have a 55.91 better percent chance at being employed.
2. In Russia, you would die 12.08 years sooner.
3. In Morocco, you would make 90.09 percent less money.
4. In Germany, you would have 40.64 percent less babies.
5. In Romania, you would be 83.33 percent less likely to have HIV/AIDS.
6. In Canada, you would spend 45.33 percent less money on health care.
7. In Norway, you would experience 44.44 percent less of a class divide.
8. In Australia, you would have a 23.94 percent less chance of dying in infancy.
9. In China, you would consume 90. 43 percent less oil.
10. In France, you would have 17.92 percent more free time.

“The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are,” says the site’s homepage. It then asks the questions: “If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like? Would you be the same person?” Good questions, to be sure. How about this one: If you are who you are, but become better informed about the experiences of others with whom you share the planet, would you do anything differently?

Image: Dano

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