Written By Paisley Hansen / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

Human beings do not live in a vacuum in either a literal or metaphorical sense. The world around you affects you in subtle ways that you may not even be aware of. For example, it can influence your mood, inform your behavior, and encourage or discourage interactions between you and other people.

The environment in which you live, both ecologically and in a broader sense, can also affect your health. Here are some specific effects it can have.

Quality of Food and Water

A lot of the food you eat consists of ingredients that have been heavily processed or produced in a laboratory. For example, you see "sucrose" listed as an ingredient on many different foods, but what is sucrose? It turns out that sucrose is the scientific name for white sugar that has been heavily refined.

While it makes food taste better, it consists of empty calories that could promote weight gain and related health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease. In addition to ingredients that offer no nutritional value, food and water alike can be contaminated with poisons and pathogens.

Approximately one-third of the world's population does not have access to proper sanitation services and over 780 million people do not have access to clean drinking water.

Climate Change

Greenhouse emissions are carbon-based gases that are released when organic materials and fossil fuels are burned for warmth and energy. As implied by the name, these gases collect in the atmosphere and hold energy from the sun close to the earth. The ground and the water get warmer as a result, and the increased warmth leads to climate change.

Climate change is a lot more than warmer temperatures, although these can be alarming enough on their own. It can also lead to extreme weather patterns such as heat waves, droughts, larger hurricanes, and even stronger winter storms. These extreme conditions then lead to other natural disasters, such as mudslides, flooding, and wildfires that have destroyed thousands of acres of vegetation.

The loss of vegetation means fewer plants to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and convert them to oxygen, further contributing to the problem. In the meantime, natural disasters related to climate change have caused hundreds of deaths, injuries, and property loss, leaving people homeless.

Air Pollution

Air pollution has a significant role to play in climate change, but it is also a health threat in its own right. Harmful chemicals released into the atmosphere can be breathed in by people. These can be toxic and cause or contribute to lung disease.

Every day, collection sites around the country analyze the level of pollutants in the atmosphere and release statements informing people of the health risks they pose. The law requires that large cities release this information to the public, and many small communities provide the daily air quality index as well, even though it is optional for them.

In fairness, human beings are not solely responsible for air pollution. Allergies and asthma are respiratory health risks as well, and these may be triggered by natural agents such as mold spores and pollen.

Disease-Causing Microorganisms

Microorganisms are one-celled life forms that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Examples of microorganisms include bacteria and viruses.

Not all microorganisms are harmful; some are beneficial to humans, while others have no effect on them one way or the other. However, there are many micro-organisms that can infect people and cause disease.

Many of these pathogens, as they are also known, are airborne and can get into the body when inhaled. However, there are many other places where microbes can lurk. For example, the bacteria that cause botulism and tetanus are found in the soil. Ingesting food contaminated with these bacterial strains can cause sickness, which is why it is important to wash foods before eating them.

The line between helpful and harmful substances in the environment is not always clear. For example, while botulinum toxin can cause severe illness, it also has medical applications for treating migraine headaches.

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Written By:

Paisley Hansen is a freelance writer and expert in health, fitness, and growing young. When she isn’t writing she can usually be found reading a good book or hitting the gym. She loves hearing from readers so feel free to contact her through Facebook.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.

Photo by Julia Volk from Pexels