Personal Health Journals

by Dr. Sarah Laurie (continued)

If you are concerned that the turbines may be having an effect on you or your family’s health, one way of seeing whether or not your concerns are justified is to start keeping a detailed journal or diary. This information is often used by acousticians to try and help people affected by noise from other sources, and residents elsewhere have found it very helpful for themselves, and for their local health practitioners to identify a pattern to their symptoms, if there is one.

I suggest keeping the information either in an exercise book used only for this, or entering the information into a spreadsheet on the computer if you prefer. It is best to do this at the time you are experiencing the symptoms.

I suggest noting the following:

• Date
• Time
• Blood pressure (if relevant)
• Heart rate (if relevant)
• Detailed description of symptoms, and what you are doing at the time they occur, how long they last, and anything else relevant
• Weather conditions
• Wind direction
• Estimated wind speed (e.g. no wind, light breeze, strong, or gale)
• Turbines turning (if you can see them—some people can’t)