Noise Causes Stress
And The Stress Generates A Cascade of Actions
That Cause An Increase In Cholesterol, Triglycerides, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Thyroid Interruption, Enhanced Disruption In Neurotics, Psychotics, Aggravated Depression, Anger and Volatility In Psychologically Dysfunctional Persons, and Much More.
This Is How It Is Done.

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Glucocorticoid & Catecholamine Response

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    When the body interprets an action as a stress, the director of the stress response is the brain center known as the hypothalamus. And stress is any action that causes an excess of glucocorticoid hormone release from the adrenal glands. The area involved in the outer layer of the gland is the adrenal cortex; that involved in the inner layer is the adrenal medulla.

    There are over two dozen steroid hormones, known collectively as Corticosteroids. They are synthesized from cholesterol by the adrenal cortex. They cause a long-term response in the organism. They are subdivided into two branches: Mineralocorticoids and Glucocorticoids. Our chief concern for now are the glucocorticoids that increase glucose blood levels and aid the body in resisting long-term stressors.

    Catecholemines are, for this discussion, chiefly produced by the adrenal medulla. But, epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline, noradrenaline) are also produced from nerve cells. Primarily, it is the latter that is synthesized in the sympathetic nervous system and released by the nerve .

    William H. Elliott and Daphne C. Elliott, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Third Edition, write:

"Norepinephrine (noradrenaline) liberated from the sympathetic nervous system that innervates adipose tissue has the same effect" to release free fatty acids from adipose cells. Page 181.

    However, Noise is a stressor, and if the stressor is chronic, or unreasonably prolonged, the 'fight or flight' resistance mechanism, and the resistance process to stressors becomes exhausted. Then, dysfunction and disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, memory loss, cognitive deficits, as well as other problems occur, and the exhaustion process can result in death!

    The Physiological Effects of Noise, edited by Bruce L. Welch & Annemarie S. Welch, says,

Release of catecholamines elicited by sound may increase the mobilization of free fatty acid from adipose tissue and the formation of triglyceride and cholesterol integrating [making up]the lipoproteins. Levi (3) mentions that chronically elevated blood lipids plus the direct cardiotoxic effects of epinephrine and norepinephrine can contribute to degenerative changes in the myocardium.

    Lipoproteins transport lipids in the blood, carry triglycerides and cholesterol to tissues, and remove excess cholesterol from the blood. However, with increasing noise pollution, the body is under chronic stress, releasing adrenalin (epinephrine) and noradrenalin (norepinephrine). These particular catecholamines, including dopamine, cause the release of cholesterol from lipoproteins, thus adding to the cholesterol tide when so many already have high cholesterol.

    Cortisol from the adrenal cortex can influence cholesterol rise. It appears to do this by being used in the reaction; or, influencing the reaction, of mevelonic acid in the liver to enhance its production of cholesterol.

    "The principal biologically important products of adrenal cortical steroid synthesis are the glucocorticoid cortisol and the mineralocorticoid aldosterone." —Basic Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach, Dawn B. Marks, PhD., Allan D. Marks, MD., & Colleen M. Smith, PhD.

    These hormones, including catecholamines, create the cascade effect initiated by acute or chronic stress. And, what this series is about, Noise Pollution, creates stress. Some to most households live in a cacaphony of noise pollution. What is the outcome for the recipients of such stress? It will be exactly what Chembio Updates has been writing about for years.

    What will be the outcome of the chronic stress of noise pollution, and that noise the economy makes as it craters, coupled with the unrelenting stress—the kind coming from the stars, our sun, tremendous changes in planet earth, the Galactic Plane, and other now occurring events and generated events as we move into the Arm of Orion? There will be enhanced cholesterol formation, not only from noise and the deteriorating events generated by the dwindling economy, and this will cause lipoproteins to "grind" away at releasing extreme amounts of free fatty acids causing high triglycerides. This "grind" will, and is, taking the lipoproteins down to its base, exposing and releasing most to all of its cholesterol.

    We now have from these actions, higher triglycerides and cholesterol levels. The extremely high triglycerides will cause pancreatitis, if not reduced, and this will destroy the beta–cells of the pancreas, resulting in Type I, insulin dependent, diabetes. Have you noticed how many more black children now are turning up with diabetes? White and Hispanic children too? Recall from the last issue, Part II, black families have the most noise in their family; then Hispanics, then Whites.

    One effect we mentioned is diabetes. For now, consider the following:

The actions of epinephrine and norepinephrine in the liver, the adipocyte, the skeletal muscle cell, and the A and B cells of the pancreas directly influence fuel matabolism. The catecholamines are counterregulatory hormones which have metabolic effects directed toward mobilization of fuels from their storage sites for oxidation by cells in order to meet the increased energy requirements of acute and chronic stress. They simultaneously suppress insulin secretion... — Basic Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach

    This cause more sugar to be dumped into the bloodstream as the body uses glycemic amino acids for glucose. The body is not storing foodstuffs, but using them to make glucose. The blood sugar rises as insulin is blocked. And with insulin blocked, sugar piles up. This creates body proteins being tied up with sugar (glycosylation). Once proteins are bound with glucose, that function is lost, some to most, depending upon how much bound protein is out of commission. And those proteins are permanently out of function until they are rebuilt.

    On a continued ongoing basis of chronic stress, diabetes becomes permament. This continues as long as the stress is chronic, which will be unrelenting "as the stressful stimulus persists." The continued effect on the heart and systemic blood pressure creates damage... then atherosclerosis...stents...bypasses....

    We are truly at the end of an age. Jesus is going to be proven right, and confound the wise.

    The Welches further point out:

Additionally, it has been shown by Friedman et. al...that rabbits exposed to 102 db of white noise for 10 weeks showed a much higher level of blood cholesterol than non–noise–exposed animals although diet was identical in both groups. Noise–exposed animals developed a greater degree of aortic atherosclerosis with higher cholesterol content than control animals not exposed to noise. Also, cholesterol deposits in the iris were more severe and extensive in the noise–exposed than in the non–noise–exposed animals.

    Now, with the above considerations, we reconsider the figure above from Human Anatomy & Physiology, Sixth Edition, by Elaine N. Marieb. Note: On the top left–hand chart designating that response from the hypothalamus is "Short Term."

Short–Term Stress Response:

• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Liver converts glycogen to glucose and releases glucose to blood
• Dilation of bronchioles
• Changes in blood flow patterns leading to increased alertness, decreased digestive system activity, and reduced urine output
• Increased metabolic rate

    Not only do we have an understanding of how Chronic Stress from whatever source, in this case, generated by Noise Pollution, causes high cholesterol, but we have been given a hint about high blood pressure and other diseases, such as diabetes.

    This is from the top right-hand of the above chart:

More Prolonged Response:

Mineralocorticoids

• Retention of sodium and water by kidneys

• Increased blood volume and blood pressure

Glucocorticoids

• Proteins and fats converted to glucose or broken down for energy

• Increased blood sugar

• Suppression of immune system

    Corticosteroids are made by the adrenal cortex in response to long–term stress. They include cortisol (increases insulin's desensitivity), which is a glucocorticoid that regulates immune response, opposes insulin, and stimulates conversion of proteins to glucose in the liver (gluconeogenesis). Other corticosteroids such as corticosterone help regulate mineral balance.

    Aldosterone is the most potent of these, acting on the renal tubule (kidney) to promote retention of sodium and the increased excretion of potassium. You might also see these hormones referred to as cortisones, which has become a generic term for adrenal cortex hormones. These hormones respond to any stressors that increase energy requirements.

    Fasting, infection, intense exercise, pain, or emotional stress stimulate the secretion of a releasing hormone from the hypothalamus in the brain, which tells the adrenals to secrete extra cortisol. There is also a regular daily cycle of cortisol release into the bloodstream, with peaks in the morning and late afternoon and lows in midafternoon and during deep sleep.

    Cortisol is extremely important to survival when stress of any sort is present. If an animal can be made stress–free, the lack of cortisol is not life–threatening. But without the corticosteroids, we couldn't survive even the slightest stress. People who have had their adrenal glands removed or whose adrenals don't make enough cortisol are in danger of death from even mild illness.

    These people must use cortisol replacement for the rest of their lives, increasing their dose at any sign of extra stress or infection. Excessive cortisol, on the other hand, creates a broad range of undesirable side effects including truncal obesity, elevated blood glucose, hypertension, "moon" face, fatty accumulation called a "buffalo hump" behind the neck and upper thorax, osteoporosis, easy bruising, a susceptibility to fungal infections, and disorders of the immune system. If produced by excessive stimulation by pituitary hormones, the resulting disease is called Cushing's disease. If resulting from excessive adrenal production independent of pituitary control, the disease is called Cushing's syndrome.

    Chronic stress leads to chronic high levels of cortisol in the bloodstream, which leads to a greater need for both DHEA and progesterone to maintain balance. In addition to the symptoms of Cushing's disease and syndrome, chronic excessive cortisol is toxic to brain cells in high concentrations and can cause short-term memory loss. A lifetime of high cortisol levels may be a primary cause of Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia (WebMaster Emphasis). High cortisol is also a primary cause of osteoporosis because it blocks the action of the steroid hormones and thyroid.

    The way this hormone is used in conventional medicine is another good example of the dramatic difference between physiologic and pharmacologic dosing with hormones. People who take powerful synthetic cortisone drugs like prednisone, prenisolone, and dexamethasone for their anti-inflammatory effects suffer side effects like swelling of the face, acne, unwanted hair growth on the face and body, lowered resistance to infection, weight gain around the midriff, menstruel irregularities, and psychological problems ranging from depression to anxiety to outright psychosis. With long-term use, these medications cause adrenal cortisol production to shut down completely, so that stopping the drug can cause fatal complications.

    In contrast, natural hydrocortisone or cortisone acetate, used in small doses several times a day, has very little incidence of side effects, and it has been used successfully to treat symptoms of adrenal insufficiency. Supplementing natural hydrocortisone or cortisone acetate in doses of 2.5 to 5 mg two to four times daily can be a safe and effective way to replenish depleted adrenals. (Too much, taken later in the day can cause insomnia, so adjust your dosage accordingly, or don't take it later in the day.)

    Proper use of natural cortisols can correct problems as diverse as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic fatigue. However, it's very important to combine the cortisone supplementation with lots of rest, good nutrition, and hormone balance, with the goal of healing the adrenal glands and not having to use it every day long-term. Once you have brought your body back into balance you can use it occasionally as needed, which you'll know by your symptoms.

    I suggest that you use natural cortisone supplementation with the guidance of a health professional, because even natural cortisone isn't safe if you take too much, and it's a delicate balance to maintain. If you take it when you don't really need it, it can cause problems. If your doctor doesn't know about William McK. Jefferies' groundbreaking book, Safe Uses of Cortisol (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1998), inform him or her that it contains all the necessary information on how and when to prescribe physiologic amounts of natural cortisone.

    If you don't have the symptoms of cortisol deficiency but are living an extremely hectic life, working and playing too hard and not taking time to get enough sleep and to relax, you're probably making too much cortisol. [WebMaster's Comment: He's talking about stress; and this includes Noise Pollution.] Even if your adrenals can sustain that kind of energy without ever running down, you're still at risk from chronically high cortisol levels. Optimal health is achieved with a balance of activity and rest. — What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance, John R. Lee, M.D., with Virginia Hopkins.

    "People continuously exposed to loud sounds experience elevated stress levels, hypertension, depression, and lost sleep and productivity," says Richard Tur, founder of NoiseOFF, a website for people who want quieter communities.

    This is how Noise Pollution causes high blood pressure. Hormones cock and prime things for further reactions to occur. From the picture above, notice when "Shazam" the lightning bolt, representing a Stressor, hits the brain, the hypothalamous in particular, a series of reactions take place. The Corticotropin–Releasing Hormone (CRH) is released from the hypothalamous and travels by an internal pathway from this area to the anterior pituitary gland. At this point, this latter gland releases ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) to the bloodstream that reaches the adrenal cortex and generates the release of Mineralocorticoids and Glucocorticoids for a long–term response.

    The ACTH is stimulated by CRH, and this is increased by fever, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), and other stressors, such as Noise Pollution. The ACTH importantly causes the glucocorticoids to be released to resist stressors. However, exhaustion can set in, and as we learned in Part II, dis-ease can result, resulting in disease or even death. Mother Nature in her wisdom designed an excellent system.

Note:

As ACTH rises, aldosterone secretion is increased to a small extent, and the blood volume and blood pressure rises to ensure effective delivery of various nutrients and gases from respiration as the stressful period occurs. When over, all drops down. Yet, with our ongoing noise pollution in our environment and homes, we have sustained high blood pressure because the ACTH is sustained (chronic), causing a sustained increase in aldosterone that causes the kidneys to hold back on salt excretion.

    When, the salt is retained (sodium, that is), then the sodium holds more water and consequently, more fluid in the body extrapolates to more fluid in the blood vessels and thus, the heart pumps harder to drive a bolus of blood down the bloodstream, and this means high blood pressure as the heart must pump harder to effect this movement.

    Damage eventually occurs. Kidneys 'burn out,' wear and tear—the shearing effect (physics enters into the equation now) occurs, and tears result, often near or at bends of blood vessels where the forces are greatest, and we then have a repair process occurring that results in cholesterol plaques forming. Pieces of plaque can break off and cause stroke or blockade distal to its emmanating point.

Comment:

When The Hell Breaks, people please be advised, as the weather goes from severe cold to severe hot, avoid alcoholic beverages, especially during the time of heat. You need water; you need to Save Sweat, Not Water. But, if you consume alcohol, the alcohol blocks aldosterone secretion. Then, you are not reabsorbing water; you are losing most of it. This can lead to dehydration as if in a desert–like situation. We had you store alcohol in pint size bottles for barter—not consumption.

Also, if a child or adult, under your care, stops eating; or, eats meagerly, then to save that child's life, rub grain alcohol (drinking) on his back. The body will absorb much and convert to carbohydrate in its biochemical systems. You can rub a little DMSO onto the back or big muscles, such as the thighs, and then rub a little Jack Daniels on.

    This same "Shazam" signal causes a nerve impulse to travel within fractions of seconds to the spinal cord and from there to the adrenal medulla. The response of the mudulla is to release epinephrine and norepinephrine. One of the actions of these hormones is to increase blood pressure in a short–term response.

    However, with chronic stress, aldosterone stays high, generating high blood pressure.

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    Mary F. Lockett, writing in The Physiological Effects of Noise, Edited by Drs. Welch & Welch, says:

Loud sounds, intense light, immobilization, anxiety, forced exercise, surgery, cold and many other stressful agents increase the secretion of corticotrophin (ACTH) from the adenohypophysis (pituitary gland, anterior).

High concentrations of ACTH also increase the rate of secretion of aldosterone.

    But, here's the rub: As Noise Pollution increases high blood pressure via ACTH increases, Loud noises decrease thyrotrophic hormone (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, TSH). One can immediately see this, in conjunction with the current diet Americans are eating, is why there is so much complaint these days about "no energy." The thyroid hormone, especially T3, the active component, being down, thus decreases ATP, the energy currency chemical. So what do people, teens too, do? Eat more and more to try and make up for the lost energy. They erroneously think these "high energy" foods will give them the needed feel–good feeling one gets from high energy. The result is obesity.

Epinephrine and norepinephrine had very significant increases after noise exposure of the control subjects. This proves that noise may be a powerful stressing agent in normal people and capable of causing serious disturbances in some cardiovascular and psychotic patients.

—Physiological Effects of Noise, Drs. Welch & Welch

This supports the hypothesis that cardiac infarction patients react to audiogenic stress with increased release of norepinephrine because of a more active aggressive psychological personality. Significant epinephrine and norepinephrine responses to sound stimulation were also present in normal subjects and hypertensives.

Systolic and diastolic pressure rose significantly with the sound experiments in many labile hypertensive patients, correlating with increased catecholamine response.

Some schizophrenic patients with noise exposure showed very high levels of urine norepinephrine although they were under large doses of chlorpromazine. These high excretion rates of norepinephrine caused by sound stimulation are similar to those that have been registered in psychotics during extreme aggressive episodes.

Mean norepinephrine excretion was reduced in alcoholic psychotics, but they responded to sound stress as the controls. Noise proved to be an important stressing agent capable of causing disturbances in cardiovascular and psychotic subjects.

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    Samuel Rosen, former consultant to The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, writing in 'Noise, Hearing and Cardiovascular Function':

"It is known that loud noise causes a number of reactions in the human body which the recipient cannot control, in addition to the psychic. The blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, the pupils dilate, the eyes close, one winces, holds the breath, and the voluntary and involuntary muscles tense. Gastric secretion diminishes and the diastolic pressure increases. Adrenalin is suddenly injected into the blood stream, which increases neuromuscular tension, nervousness, irritability and anxiety.

"These changes occur via the vegetative nervous system. A very important function of this system is the regulation of the changing caliber of the blood vessels. Lehmann and Tamm and Jansen found that a short or prolonged noise caused vaso–constriction of precapillary blood vessels which persisted for the duration of the noise and longer. After five minutes of noise the constriction of the blood vessels begins to disappear but may persist for 25 minutes before disappearing completely.

"Peripheral vaso–constriction occurs independent of annoyance or any other emotion and is present with each noise stimulus and at all intervals. A meaningless white noise at 90 db SPL (sound pressure level) produced the same degree of vaso–constriction in persons long accustomed to such noise as it did in those unaccustomed to it."

    Note: This is like the person sleeping and noise is prevalent, problems are occurring even though the person says, he slept 8 hours. Often, these people who sleep in noise awake feeling tired or exhausted and do not know why. Recall last document, Part II, about fractured sleep.

    The Mabaans living in southeast Sudan, have an unusual atmosphere they live in—almost virtual silence with only 30–40 db on the "C" scale. Rosen writes:

"They have neither guns nor drums and use a five–string lyre for their songs and dances. They are mainly vegetarians although they catch a few fish with spears. They never have elevated blood pressure and coronary heart disease is unknown. They live long under minimal stress. They have better hearing in the high frequencies with aging than appears in any similar studies in modern western civilization.

"The Mabaans have learned to 'listen' for survival in the jungle and their cardiovascular tree is exceptionally healthy, supplying excellent nutrition to the auditory nerve. When some of these tribespeople reach and live in noisy Khartoum under conditions of stress and diet changes they develop hypertension and coronary heart disease accompanied by some loss of hearing."

    One thing that was demonstrated was that "vaso–constriction occurs during sleep as well as in wakefulness," when noise pollution was present.

"Exposure to white noise of 90 db or more just once, or even a few times, will not damage the hearing. However, when an individual is exposed to such noise for many years then a significant cochlear hearing loss will result. If there is already present somatic disease like atherosclerosis or coronary heart disease such noise exposure could endanger health and aggravate the pathology by adding insult to injury. This could happen with even less intense noise and shorter exposure time."

Commentary:

    White Noise is an audio signal that contains noise at the same level at all frequencies, such as Rainfall. In The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise, Garret Keizer, author; 2010, writes, "White noise, so–called because it contains all sound frequencies just as white light contains all the colors of the rainbow."

    However, on page 61 of Physiological Effects of Noise, Edited by Welch & Welch, white noise may not be so 'white,' that is, free of problems. They point out that white noise for 10 weeks raised rabbits' blood cholesterol during such duration. They write, "All of these studies seem to emphasize the noxious effects of noise in man and animals."

    They further quote researcher, Rosen:

"The healthier an organism is the better it can resist injury from any cause, including noise. We now have millions with heart disease, high blood pressure, and emotional illness who need protection from the additional stress of noise.

"Rest, relaxation and peaceful sleep are necessary to all, especially to those already tense or ill. Innumerable noises invade the daily lives of great masses of people, yet nobody becomes indifferent to them. Even though such noise is not likely to damage the hearing it does inflict stress, tension, and sometimes intolerable nervous strain.

"People become irritable, unsociable, and more quarrelsome at work and at home."

    Then, Rosen writes,

"There seems to be little doubt that noise pollution is a health hazard. The physiological effects of noise in the human, other than auditory, have not been given sufficient attention by scientists."

... To Be Continued ...

In An UpComing Issue:
The Physiological/Psychological Effects of Noise: Part IV

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