Earth Day is right around the corner! It’s a day dedicated to making small positive changes to our daily habits in order to help make the environment better for ourselves and future generations.
Whether your celebrations include planting trees, setting up a composting system, or donating time or money to a local environmental organization, your actions will help keep this planet healthy and beautiful for generations to come. And while that is important in and of itself, your efforts will ultimately impact more than just the environment, they will also impact your own health, particularly your mental health.
Your mental health is a vital part of your overall health and quality of life. It includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and it impacts how you think, feel and act. It also influences what decisions you make and how you relate to other people in your life. Just like with physical health, your mental health is influenced by a number of different factors, such as the quality of your relationships and the amount of stress you experience at work. One factor that often influences our mental health without us realizing it is the health of the environment.
How Does The Environment Affect Your Mental Health?
The environment can have both a positive and negative influence on your mental health. A healthy, natural environment can do wonders for your mental health. A short walk in a local park or forested area will show you what we mean. Hearing the birds chirping, breathing in the fresh air, and feeling the sun on your skin can instantly help melt away stress and improve your mood. To quote Dr. Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN Environment Program, “The full health benefits of the natural world are too extensive to list.”
With that being said, your environment can affect your mental health in a negative way, especially if the environment is unhealthy. Take air pollution for example. You already know that breathing polluted air can be harmful to your physical health, particularly your heart and lungs. However, you may not know that it can also contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression. This has become especially noticeable in recent decades as more families with young kids have moved to urban areas where pollution tends to be higher. Research has shown that children who live in these high-traffic areas are more likely to have poor mental health.
Another environmental factor that can negatively impact your mental health is urbanization, which is when green spaces are brought down to foster the development of infrastructure like roads and buildings. This is common in major cities around the world, and it is taking away many of the natural areas that have so much to offer for your mental health. Not to mention that the expansion of these cities often leads to an increase in air pollution as more fossil fuels are burned by factories and vehicles.
Sustainability For Better Mental Health
Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. As we already mentioned, healthy environments have a lot to offer when it comes to your mental health, and that’s where sustainable living comes into play. Incorporating sustainable practices into your daily life will go a long way when it comes to improving this planet’s environmental health as well as your own mental health.
If you’re not sure how to start living a more sustainable lifestyle, here are some tips to help you get started.
Be Mindful
Stop for a second and take a look around. Pay attention to how your environment makes you feel. Does the lack of trees or green spaces have you feeling down? Does the smog-filled air or poor waste-management system have you on edge? Whatever the case, acknowledge those feelings and then take steps to see how you can help. Start by picking up trash around your neighborhood, setting up your own little garden, or making the decision to walk or use public transportation whenever possible. These changes may seem small and insignificant, but over the course of a year, they all add up to have a big impact on both you and the environment.
Spread Awareness
Because the health of our planet affects all of us, protecting it isn’t just the job of the government or environmental organizations. A single person can spark meaningful change, so find ways you can spread awareness about the importance of living in a healthy environment. Work with your neighbors to find ways your community can work together to reduce waste by recycling or reusing products. Rally the youth at a local school to get involved by planting trees that will help provide us with cleaner air. These are all great ways to make a difference for your mental health and the health of this planet.
Include Your Family
Whatever moves you make to live a more sustainable lifestyle should include the rest of your family as well. After all, making changes to your daily routine is always easier and more fun when you have the support of your family. This is especially important if you have children. It will give them a chance to connect with nature. They will grow up knowing how important our environment is and they will feel empowered to do everything they can to help make this world a healthier place. And as an extra bonus, their involvement can benefit their overall mental health as well.
Small Actions Add Up
Every small move we make towards a better environment is a step towards better mental health for all of us. That’s why we consider sustainable living a part of the #NewEarthLife. So go ahead. Join us in finding new ways you and your family can make a difference. Mother Earth, and your mind, will thank you.