Arrived back yesterday from a very pleasant few days in Ilkley surrounded by craggy slopes, purple heather, promenading ducks and lots and lots of lovely green. Walking home from the train station last night, central Edinburgh suffered greatly by comparison, seemingly nothing but miserable grey buildings and noisy hordes. Of course, there's plenty more to it than that, just not where we are - but on Thursday we'll make the move west, away from the city centre and out towards a quieter, greener place. The flat is a great mass of boxes right now (none containing a bunny, though one can but dream) and today's been spent cleaning in anticipation.
The next few days are going to be frustrating, no doubt about it, since we're now in that weird emotional limbo between homes even though we're still in the old one, but the thought that we'll be ending this week in the new place, free of the dread of noise, breathing in clearer, cleaner air (seriously, you can taste the difference between breathing here and the new place) is almost indescribably pleasing. There's been the odd point over the last few months when I've worried if we've somehow been over-sensitive about our sleep disrupted by sound from below, so it was extremely heartening to read a special report in New Scientist this week on the truth about noise pollution. We're not over-reacting by any stretch and, as the report shows, we're not alone. Sadly only the first three paragraphs are available online, but to quote from the article.
[I]n May a survey by the UK's National Society for Clean Air (NCSA) showed that noise had a "major impact" for 45 per cent of respondents [...] Two percent of respondents to the NCSA study said they had moved house because of noisy neighbours.
Even more specifically...
Noise can create a form of chronic stress that keeps our bodies in a state of constant alert [...] If these stress hormones are in constant circulation, they can cause long-term physiological changes [...] In the case of noisy neighbours, for example, stress might be triggered simply by knowing a neighbour is in, even if they are not being noisy at that point. "If you have no control over the noise, that's what creates anger and stress and causes people to tip over the edge," says Val Wheedon. [...] In such disputes, noise serves not only as an irritation, but symbolises perceived lack of consideration in others, priming the body for confrontation.
Ex-bloody-zactly! Furthermore...
Noise can aggravate stress still further if it disturbs sleep, which can result in constant fatigue and outbursts of aggressiveness and irritability. People exposed to noise during their sleep have been shown to wake up more often and fidget more in their sleep - both indicators of sleep disruption.
You'd think that almost went without saying, but to see that all written down - especially in New Scientist - has been very reassuring for me. It lets me know that I'm not a freak for getting so wound up or for eventually becoming so anxious and alert for noise below our master bedroom that I can't even sleep in there any more (thank fuck for the guest bedroom) and that, no matter how much the move costs financially - and it's a fair whack - it's worth every single penny to be able to truly relax again at bedtime. No wonder I'm counting the hours.
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