From neighbors and traffic to trains and pets, noise is a part of our everyday lives. But there are serious repercussions when it comes to daily exposure to high noise levels. It’s important to stay aware of how noise can affect you—both physically and emotionally—and learn how you can protect yourself from noise pollution.

The American Heart Association (AHA) is cheering the USDA’s recent memo detailing the next phase of lowering the sodium content of school menus. The memo, which was sent to those responsible for administering school meal programs, provides detailed information about how to meet target two of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a final rule published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) intended to improve the health of America’s school children.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL), commonly known as sudden deafness, occurs as an unexplained, rapid loss of hearing—usually in one ear—either at once or over several days. It should be considered a medical emergency. Anyone who experiences SSHL should visit a doctor immediately.

The pain threshold for humans is 120-130 Decibels. Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss, and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. Here are 10 sounds produced throughout history and how incredibly loud they are. Just remember, human speech is only registered at about 25-35 decibels.

Updated clinical guidelines published the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery say cotton swabs are not appropriate for earwax removal. In fact, information for patients in the guidelines say not to put anything "smaller than your elbow in your ear."

The world is getting louder. Scientists define "noise" as unwanted sound, and the level of background din from human activities has been doubling roughly every three decades, beating population growth. Road traffic in the United States has tripled over the last 30 years. By 2032, the number of passenger flights is expected to be nearly double the 2011 figure—at peak hours, planes are even audible overhead 70 percent of the time in the remote backcountry of Yosemite National Park.

Research published in the Lancet journal found that dementia, a chronic disorder of mental processes, was more common in people who lived within 50 meters of a major road than those who lived further away. The researchers tracked approximately 6.6 million adults aged between 20 and 85 in Ontario, Canada, for over a decade (2001 to 2012).

What do hypertension, sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, impaired cognition and being annoyed have in common? All are possible outcomes of too much noise around us. Hearing loss and ailments such as the ringing ears of tinnitus aren’t the only things we should worry about. Evidence of the non-auditory effects of noise on health is growing.

A steady decline over more than two decades has resulted in a 25% drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States. The drop equates to 2.1 million fewer cancer deaths between 1991 and 2014. The news comes from Cancer Statistics 2017, the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) comprehensive annual report on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. It is published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and is accompanied by a consumer version of the publication, Cancer Facts and Figures 2017.