How would you rate your current environmental health? On a scale of ‘I’m pretty much David Suzuki’, to ‘I’ve seen an episode Plant Earth, I’m assuming you fall somewhere in the middle? You may be wondering, what the heck does environmental health have to do with anything going on right now? The answer is a lot.
Yes, environmental health is about our connection and respect for the natural world, but it is also about the care and attention we give to the environments we find ourselves in on a regular basis. Let’s take a look at our current situation. Right now, you may be living in cramped quarters, with others, or alone for weeks on end with limited exposure to the outside world. Or maybe you are going to work every day in an environment that is full of chaos and fear.
Both of these environments are stressful and can cause our bodies to react by releasing disproportionate amounts of the stress-induced hormone cortisol into our bodies. Cortisol can wreak absolute havoc on our immune systems. Which is the exact opposite of what we want right now.
The good news is that we can take environmental health research and use to our advantage. There are some tools and tactics that we can use every day to feel calm, cool, and connected to our environment both indoors and out. If you are interested in learning more about how to take care of your home and work and utilize the healing benefits of the environment right now, keep reading the Holistic Wellness Series – Environmental Health.
What is Environmental Health?
Environmental health is the understanding of how the social, natural, and built environments affect your health and well-being. Connected to each of the other holistic wellness domains, environmental health is like the macro view of our health influences. Good environmental health occurs when we are in pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being.
Let’s try an activity. I want you to take a deep breath and think about your “happy place”. You know, that place you go to when you get cut off in traffic, or the barista at the coffee shop makes your lactose intolerant order with whole milk. I’m going to guess that your happy place is welcoming and probably pretty beautiful? Hold onto that feeling, because I like to think about your improving your environmental health as if you were trying to make every each of you find yourself slightly more like your “happy place”.
Environment Feed-Back Loop
Our brains are constantly taking in the external stimuli. Meaning we are almost always accepting and processing information from the going on’s around us. The environments we find ourselves in are a large part of the knowledge feedback loop. If your home is a mess, your social influences are toxic, and you haven’t connected with the natural world in months, your environmental health may be on the fritz. When we feel unsafe in our environments we become stressed and our bodies release cortisol.
Our environments inspire us to live a life that is aligned with our surroundings, so we are going to shed some light on the three environments and some tips on what you can do to improve them.
- The built environment
- The natural environment
- The social environment
The Built Environment
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “The built environment includes all of the physical parts of where we live and work (e.g., homes, buildings, streets, open spaces, and infrastructure)”. The built environment for each one of us is going to be different. Depending on whether you are self-isolating at home, or commuting to your office or workspace you can take an inventory of all the built environments currently in your life.
Since I have been working from home for the past few weeks, my built environment influences are my house and my car. What a better time than spring to do some tidying and cleaning, in your current environment.
Here are some of the resources I have been using to take care of my built environment these past few weeks.
Another one of my favorite ways to use the built environment to my advantage right now is to “take the scenic drive’. Slow down, enjoy the beautiful views of your local area from the safety and well-being of your car.
If you are more of an active transportation person, go down the side roads. Take note of the landscaping of each new home you pass by, listen to the beautiful sounds of the birds chirping and be fully present in the beautiful moment you are presented with.
The Natural Environment
A large part of environmental health is being aware of the current state of the earth and the effects of your daily habits on it, while demonstrating a commitment to keeping our planet healthy. This connection to the natural world has been referred to as nature-relatedness, which is responsible for has numerous physical and emotional health benefits.
The research found that when people spend time in green environments, they saw improvements in both self-esteem and mood and that those with mental illness had one of the greatest self-esteem improvements. Other supporting research has shown that when we are humans interact with nature we experience
- physiological and psychological stress reduction
- increases in well-being and vitality
- improved focus and attention
- increase reflection skills
- and decreased rumination
If you want to geek out over the amazingness of this, now would be the time to do it! But the thing is, for a lot of us right now the natural environment might be pretty inaccessible. The pain on this one is real, I know. Try telling a Canadian who moved to Florida just under a year ago that she isn’t allowed to go to the beach!? Yeesh…
But that doesn’t mean we still can’t connect and take care of our natural environments right now. With creativity and determination, even those of us who are isolated in our tiny apartments in urban settings can still benefit from the beautiful and healing effects of nature. Scroll down to see some tips on how to do this.
The Social Environment
Last, but most certainly not least, we need to discuss our social environments. We are being challenged as a society to completely shift the way we interact with our social environments. Social distancing protocols have limited our ability to see our friends and family, go to school, work or church, or even get a workout in at our gym. These are all environments parts of our social environment. So right now, your environment probably looks very different. But it is important that we are still mindful and take care of our social health to ensure we are feeling connected and supported.
Social Media
Since the lockdown began, social media sites have seen an increase in social media usage of 20%. This may not seem like a lot, but considering prior to all of the time we spend on social media every day averaged around 2 hours and 22 minutes, it is a lot. I’m not saying this to make you feel ashamed, I just want to highlight the brain information connection I wrote about earlier. What you are constantly being exposed to is affects the way your brain thinks. Mindful social media use is what it’s all about! Just like spring cleaning your house, this might be the perfect time to spring clean your social media influences.
8 Environmental Health Self Care Tips
1. Start a garden
Friends, if you always wanted to start a backyard garden, this may be the perfect time to do so! The research found that 30 minutes of gardening reduced levels of cortisol, so if you are looking for a way to reduce stress – go ahead and get your hands dirty. You can find TONS of information online like the instructions here or you can download and use awesome apps like Grow it! that support your gardening journal while also creating an online community of like-minded green thumbs.
2. Listen to natures sounds
Can’t get out into nature, no problem! You can listen to it on your phone. A study found that when people listen to nature sounds their brains connectivity reflects an outward-directed focus of attention, a process that occurs during wakeful rest periods like daydreaming. With apps like Naturespace, you can access the healing benefits of nature from the comfort of your headphones.
3. Move your body outdoors
Why not combine the health benefits of physical activity with your daily dose of vitamin N (N = Nature). If you are able to get outside, please follow these guidelines from NRPA about social distancing while in parks. Apps like the Hiking Project will help you find parks and hiking trails in your area that you can explore.
4. Look at nature
I don’t know about you, but I have spent a lot of time the last few weeks looking through old photos of mine in beautiful outdoor locations. Did you know that research shows that just by looking at nature we tap into our parasympathetic nervous system, which can help lower our blood pressure and calm us down? Check out virtual tours of Mount Rainier, Yellowstone, and Yosemite national parks.
5. Find some constellations
With more people staying in, the lower the levels of light pollution meaning star gazing is prime. Using this helpful information or download a star finder app and enjoy the beauty that is the night sky.
6. Detox your social media accounts
Focusing on our social health, it’s due time to delete all those ‘unhealthy’ accounts that hurt your self-esteem, make you feel less than, and that frankly, don’t inspire joy in your life!
7. Clean your fridge
Nothing better than opening your fridge door to find shelf space and well-organized jars of pickles. Plus, once your fridge is cleared out, you will have more room to put healthy food options that are easily accessible and irresistible.
8. Online consignment shopping
I do the majority of my shopping at consignment stores. They are the best thing since sliced bread. Not only are they good for the environment (reuse, reduce, recycle!), they are great for your wallet. My local consignment store is still taking orders and doing deliveries through their Instagram account, I encourage you to see if you can support locals in your area. If not, apps like Poshmark and Thread-up are awesome ways to consignment shop online.
