Why Am I So Tired?

Source: Patricia Prijatel

My husband and I attended an event for a local nonprofit. It was essentially a meet-and-greet, but with loud music in the background. We lasted about 30 minutes, leaving early because of the music. We couldn't hear, we couldn't talk. We felt assaulted. Afterward, we went out to dinner at a quiet restaurant, which is increasingly difficult to find. When I sat down and grabbed my menu, I realized I was exhausted. My body felt like it had endured a grueling workout. I went back to my day to figure out what was so tiring. I could think of nothing until I remembered what I had just done—subjected myself to unabated noise.

Noise is physically exhausting. It’s associated with fatigue at home, at work and in the classroom. Trying to communicate with other people and manage our own movements and thoughts in the middle of the din sucks up our physical strength.

I am fortunate in that I can come back to my quiet home, shut the door, and just listen to peace and quiet. If the outside world interferes, I can mask it with soft music. I bring no noisy people with me, just a husband who seldom raises his voice, and that’s usually to ask “What?” when he hasn't heard me.

Where Noise Is Concentrated

In the urban United States, the most affluent communities are the quietest. Noise ordinances, zoning, and community restrictions are more likely to be enforced in high-income areas. By contrast, we concentrate our noise in neighborhoods where the poor and powerless live. Motorcycles and airplanes, loud trucks, strip malls, bars, manufacturing, and interstates pollute the outdoors in those neighborhoods. Poorly-built structures bring the noise inside. Yet we expect people who live within that noise to be productive, energetic, and clear-thinking. Instead, they are stressed, anxious, and distracted.

Noise is a detriment to productivity. That’s one of the many reasons why the CEO’s office is as far away as possible from the shop floor and why the mayor lives on a quiet, tree-lined street. Noise is a pollutant. It interferes with just about everything that makes us function well—sleep and learning, especially—and increases stress and anxiety. Imagine doing homework with motorcycles revving outside your door, kids screaming in the hallways, the neighbor above blasting music, and the manufacturing plant down the street wheezing in the background.

Noise Pollution Is Everywhere

But even our pricey neighborhoods have increasing levels of noise. I live three blocks away from the mayor’s tree-lined street, which is a block away from the interstate. The closer I get to his house on my regular walks, the louder the rumbling, as though there’s a monster in the bushes. In a way, there is. Our windows face a park across the street. It’s a great view and a wonderful park, but the street is a four-lane with motorcycles that regularly shatter the peace. We once lived across the street from a woman addicted to her leaf blower—she could spend hours moving leaves around her yard, spewing gas and noise as she made less progress than she would have with a rake. In many middle-class neighborhoods, the mix of backyard stereos and fire pits encourages noise into the night. Suburban tranquility can be a myth.

Open Plan Workplaces Are Noise Magnets

And our annoying open plan workplaces, intended to encourage collaboration, often do the opposite, making us want to avoid one another. They increase our stress and negativity. Anybody who ever thought that was a good idea never tried to work next to a person wielding a package of Cheetos and a fresh apple. These environments are exhausting, and employers wonder why workers still don't want to return to them after the pandemic.

I remember when we used to have cigarettes at parties—I can still smell that stench in our home as we cleaned out overflowing ashtrays after guests left. We could leave the dishes in the sink, but the cigarette butts had to be taken outside. We didn't want to sleep with that pollution—although we’d breathed it for hours. As a country we eventually realized the effects of smoking on our health and banned it from most public spaces, and made it unwelcome in most private ones. And me and my friends, for the most part, gave up the nasty habit. I now wonder why we accepted it for so long.

Maybe we’ll finally take noise as seriously at some point. Until then, when I feel wiped out and wonder why, I will consider the effects of the noise around me.