The Environment and How it Affects Us

The Environment and how it affects us

(Team 10 – Michael Oliva, Mia Spain, Nicole Reiter, Emily Thiry, Jenna Peterson)

The environment has a diverse number if ways in which it may affect our mental and even physical health. This can range from how the earth looks around us, the seasons, oncoming storms and the weather (or more specifically climate change). These factors can change a person’s mood, and depending on how the environment is around them, can either make them feel a sense of joy, or a wave of stress and sadness.

Climate Change

As our climate changes, there are different extremes that the temperature may reach, in some areas it may be extremely hot and humid, causing annoyances to some and dangerous conditions for those who work in outdoor environments. Combined with physical activity and other sources of heat in some places such as foundries steel mills or bakeries, there is hot material that already creates an excess amount of heat. On the other hand, there can also be extreme cold as was seen this year with some record low chilling temperatures. This of course can create difficulty getting to work and make some feel trapped inside a climate-controlled environment, as it is too dangerous to go outside for more than 5 minutes. Humans already spend most of their time -about 90% – indoors. Eliminating most of the time that people spend indoors is not healthy as the sun triggers the production of vitamin D which protects against inflammation lowers blood pressure and improves brain function. The extremely low temperatures ensure that people stay inside longer, then end up not getting enough sun. To some this can cause a problem called seasonal affective disorder, which has extreme impacts on your mood and how you feel.

Seasonal affective disorder/Changing seasons

Seasonal affective disorder (Also known as S.A.D) is a form of depression that is also known as winter depression. It is very common during the winter months where people don’t get that vitamin D from the sun that their bodies need. The symptoms of S.A.D will start as early as fall and improve as spring comes along. It is important to note that SAD is much more serious than that down feeling that some people experience during winter, which of course is just more proof to those who have felt that stale boredom that happens during colder months that the environment around us does change our moods. Again, the warmer summer months make people feel more positive. A study by Cornell university said

“roughly 2 million people around the globe found that positive messages became more frequent as days got longer, and negative messages went up as days became shorter. More conclusive results showed people having identifiable peaks of happiness early in the day and then trending toward negativity in the evening.”

It is known to scientists that the light helps regulate our time clocks and in turn gives better sleep. They said

“light serves as the strongest cue to regulate our internal clock, known as the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm follows a 24-hour pattern and controls our sleep cycle, hormonal fluctuations and body temperature. The light receptors in our eyes have an easier time recognizing when it’s time to wake up and fall asleep; in other words, our circadian rhythm is better aligned with natural sunlight and darkness.”

In layman’s terms, summer helps us sleep better, improving our mood and out cognitive abilities. Knowing this, we should act accordingly and try and find different ways to get the vitamin D without the sun and find activities that will allow us to get outside more even in the wintertime. This could include snowmobiling, ice fishing, skiing, sledding, or simply building things out of snow. Vitamin D can come from supplements, milk, orange juice, or select varieties of fish (Make sure to buy local!). Taking care of your body during the more difficult months can make winters go by much quicker and easier.

Storms and pressure

Oncoming storms have a way of messing with people. For reasons aside their destructive nature, storms are accompanied with a change in barometric pressure, lower pressure that is, and it can affect people in a few different ways. The most common would be headaches that are associated with the pressure. Dr Matthew Fink, a neurologist in chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, found that “low barometric pressure can cause headaches or migraines by creating a pressure difference between the atmosphere and the air-filled sinuses. The problem is exacerbated when the sinuses are congested or blocked for any reason.” This is further confirmed by a study by the journal, internal medicine, that found a direct correlation with headaches and low barometric pressure. It was also found that this drop-in pressure also affects people with arthritis, making the severity of their joint pain worse the lower the pressure dropped. Lastly, people with diabetes will also have trouble controlling their blood pressure during cold fronts, which is brought upon by this decrease in pressure. Each person may have trouble during these fronts, but it helps to know the reason for their pain or complications. It can bring peace of mind and make the situation easier to deal with.

Visual effects of the environment

Overall there are many ways that the environment can affect your wellness, but so far, we’ve mostly focused on the bad that can happen. This doesn’t mean that nature is bad. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Nature does wonders for a person’s health and mental wellness, only there are the few exceptions as listed above. For starters, a walk in the woods can improve blood pressure, boost mental health and even reduce the risk of cancer. Psychologists found that it is almost essential for humans to spend time outside and enjoy nature. Various studies have been done on the more specific effects that nature has on people. One study from the university of Michigan found that people who took a walk in the forest have a better short-term memory by 20%. It is also found that people who spend more time outdoors have lower levels of cortisol, which is a hormone used to determine how stressed a person is. Also, on the list of wonderful things nature can do for a person are to eliminate fatigue, reduce inflammation, fight depression, and help people focus and make clear decisions.

There are a variety of good things that our environment can do for us, and unfortunately a few negative effects that can come from it as well. If we are aware of how the environment impacts us, we can use it to our advantage to live happier, healthier lives.

Sources

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/15-health-benefits-sunshine

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/seasonal-affective-disorder

https://www.paulaschoice.com/expert-advice/skincare-advice/basic-skin-care-tips/how-get-vitamin-d-without-sun.html

https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/how-changes-barometric-pressure-affect-your-body

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793341/

https://www.livescience.com/8639-change-seasons-affects-animals-humans.html

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *