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Running Head: TRAFFIC 1

TRAFFIC 6

An Annotated Bibliography on Solving the Effects of Traffic on Individual’s Health and Improving Their Health; Essay for Problem and Solution Essay
Camille Watson
DeVry University
ENGL135: Advanced Composition
Prof. Symmetris Gohanna
April 9th, 2021

Introduction

An individual’s life is full of struggles, and these struggles create a lot of stress for that individual. The vehicular traffic and especially the traffic jams, the long waiting affects the life of an individual. It can be seen that there is a lot of loud honking, the road rage is increasing, and over-speeding is a result of these traffic jams. However, the most significant consequence of these traffic jams is their effect on our health. There are numerous ways that these jams affect our health. Living a healthy life is the right of every individual being, but traffic jams tend to be a hurdle in these people’s lives. Despite these hurdles, people can most likely focus on their health, move on with their life, and live a healthy life. This essay focuses on identifying the health-related problems that an individual faces and how to overcome these problems in a very effective and convenient way.

Psychological and Physical Effects of Stress

There are many problems that an individual faces and one of these problems is that they face a lot of stress due to the traffic jams. These problems tend to deteriorate the psychological as well as the physical health of an individual. Many factors are affecting the health of the individual. The traffic jams are a way to increase the health-related problems in the lives of these people. If we look closely at pressure, it has many dimensions that need to be analyzed (Ganesh, 2019). These dimensions are anxiety, lack of control, frustration from work, a feeling of helplessness and an insufficient level of tolerance. If an individual is being exposed to traffic daily, there are chances that he might face chronic levels of stress. This affects their lives as they are trying to reach their destination, but they have to wait for hours to deal with the jams and the mistakes that other motorists have made. This affects their personal and works lives because they cannot often reach offices on time or are wasting their time on something that generates no output, and this quality time could have been used in some other way to produce a better outcome.
It is observed that the stress also shows some physical effects, such as it is most likely that if an individual faces stress on a daily basis, they are to go through high blood pressure, often these individuals are on edge, the autonomic nervous system also shows a heightened activity. Due to the heightened blood activity, it can be seen that that individual faces breathing, heartbeat and digestion as well. In the longer run, the immune system can not control the pressure and autonomous nervous system activity. The long-term effects of the traffic jams are that an individual might avoid going to the office to avoid the spots. On the other hand, they are likely to face conflicts in their homes due to their stress every day. In addition, there are likely to be an increased quarrel due to the traffic congestions and rash behavior of people is also expected to increase.

Traffic and pollution

Pollution has been one of the leading factors that come in the way of the health of an individual. The traffic jams are affecting the health of the individuals in many other ways as well. One of these ways is through pollution. There are two types of breakdowns that are created due to traffic jams. One is dust pollution and the second one is noise pollution. It can be seen that the air quality is highly affected due to the traffic and the gases that are released from these cars. In other words, the congestion of traffic increases vehicle emissions and degrades the ambient air. Studies have shown that traffic congestions are most likely to affect air quality, which is most likely to affect these individuals’ health. Thus, congestion increases the health risk in the life of an individual. There can be seen that there has been a significant increase in the vehicles in the USA in the past 20 years (Brazier, 2016). This increase has also led to an increase the air pollution that is affecting the health and the lives of people directly. There are many research pieces that were carried out that show that traffic jams are causing pollution, but despite the developments, there is yet to be a way found to cope with the air pollution.
In addition to this, noise pollution also tends to affect the health of an individual. Studies have shown that traffic-related noise affects the health of an individual. One out of three people feels disturbance during their day, which has resulted in an increase in cardiovascular diseases and often results in high blood pressure. Noise pollution also tends to affect the life of an individual as they face sleep disturbances. Noise pollutions play a very particular role in heart attacks, learning disabilities, and tinnitus.

Risk of deaths

WHO has described that the outdoor air created due to traffic congestions and is most likely to affect the individual’s health in the longer run. Air pollution has significantly contributed to health-related risk. Traffic jams are a significant threat to the environment, and it was observed that it had been linked to 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide in the year 2012 (Brazier, 2016). It can be undoubtedly said that these statistics are most likely to increase as there is an increase in the traffic and more congestions seen with time. Exposure to the jams has become the eighth leading cause of death each year. The traffic jams are also likely to affect the pedestrians as they are more exposed to air and noise pollution and have a higher risk of death.

Solutions

Many solutions can be used to overcome the challenges faced, decrease the risk of health, and overcome fatality. The pedestrians should find walking routes that do not include a road that has signals. Apart from that, the local traffic authorities can play a considerable role in synchronizing traffic signals and reducing the time wasted daily. The traffic management systems such as flyovers can also help to solve the problem in numerous ways.
Some ways can make the traffic congestions less stressful. In return, it will not negatively affect an individual’s life, and individuals should avoid rush hours and try different timings to avoid congestions. Frequently, people also fear that they will get late to work. To avoid the stress and irritation is through leaving the house early and work in a very invisible manner. You should also make a playlist that will help the individuals lighten their mood and not get distracted; this will help them stay calm in such a hectic situation.
On the other hand, y morning meditation can be proven very healthy for the individual’s health (New evidence from WHO on health effects of traffic-related noise in Europe, 2021). There are many different solutions to this problem as well. Individuals can use carpooling method to help them have company while their time is being wasted. This will help them to take their mind away from the stress that is being created. Deep breathing is another technique that can be used to deal with stress and avoid health-related problems.
If the situation is analyzed from a policy-making perspective, HTV vehicles should not be permitted in the city during the rush hours, such as work and school hours (New evidence from WHO on health effects of traffic-related noise in Europe, 2021). There should be strict rules regarding the park spaces not to face issues due to someone else’s fault. Apart from that, there should be counselling services also provided to the people who tend to be involved in these traffic jams and seem vulnerable to it. There should be a restriction on cars that produce such air pollutions, and electric cars, cars that operate with water, and solar cars should be promoted to be less likely to be involved in air pollution.

Conclusion

Concluding, it can be said that traffic congestions are adversely affecting the health of an individual and this is something which should be immediately addressed. Several issues are identified in this essay, and these issues are very diverse. These issues cannot be ignored as they are affecting people’s lives, and it is increasing the mortality rate as well. The solutions mentioned above are very effective, and if the authorities tend to apply these solutions, then it is most likely that the risk factor will decrease. There is a high risk factor due to the increased risk of congestions. If one individual can cope with the congestion, then it is most likely that their health will not be affected. There are chances that the health might improve with the counselling and the playlist ideas as they are unique and improve the life and the lifestyle of people in the longer run. The effectiveness of these solutions should be studied to decrease congestion and, in return, reduce the health-related risk due to congestion.

References
“Stress, Anxiety, Pollution: How Traffic Jam Affects Your Health!”. (2018). Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://pharmeasy.in/blog/stress-anxiety-pollution-effects-of-traffic-jam-on-health/.
Brazier, Y. (2016). How sitting in traffic jams can harm your health. Medicalnewstoday.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312570.
Ganesh, L. (2019). Can everyday traffic affect our mental health?. White Swan Foundation. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org/mental-health-matters/understanding-mental-health/can-everyday-traffic-affect-our-mental-health.
Gurjar, B. R., Jain, A., Sharma, A., Agarwal, A., Gupta, P., Nagpure, A. S., & Lelieveld, J. (2010). Human health risks in megacities due to air pollution. Atmospheric Environment, 44(36), 4606-4613.
New evidence from WHO on health effects of traffic-related noise in Europe. Euro.who.int. (2021). Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2011/03/new-evidence-from-who-on-health-effects-of-traffic-related-noise-in-europe#:~:text=Contact%20us-,New%20evidence%20from%20WHO%20on%20health,traffic%2Drelated%20noise%20in%20Europe&text=One%20in%20three%20people%20experiences,diseases%20and%20high%20blood%20pressure.
Zhang, K., & Batterman, S. (2013). Air pollution and health risks due to vehicle traffic. Science of the total Environment, 450, 307-316.