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The Environment/Invironment Connection to Health and Wellness

Our health cannot be optimized without focusing on optimizing our environment. For example, I recall as a college student taking a course in environmental science that taught me how the bleach that we commonly use for washing clothes can be toxic when it combines with other minerals and elements in water by releasing chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants that may take years to disappear.


A broad definition of the word environment is a person's physical surroundings that influence growth, health and progress. Invironment is a relatively new term that underscores how our bodies interrelate to the physical environment. Some health experts specifically referred to the invironment as the gut (intestinal) micro-biome and how it is affected by food, stress, exercise and other lifestyle variables (Gary Egger). To quote Carl Sagan on the importance of the physical environment, "Anything else you are interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air or drink the water."


On a macro environmental level there is air, water, land and noise pollution that can affect the health of communities and that are tied to politics, sociology and the economy. Too often low-income and racially marginalized communities are victims of physical environmental pollution that contribute to their development of acute and chronic illnesses . On a micro level (invironmental), Lifestyle Medicine is concerned with what and how we as individuals can do to improve health and wellness to avoid the chronic diseases that are ravaging the American public and other modern civilizations.


Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) are defined as exogenous ( outside the body ) chemicals or a mixture of chemicals that can interfere with any aspect of hormone action ( Zoeller ). These chemicals have been implicated as contributors to infertility, premature puberty, endometriosis, metabolic syndrome and obesity. Some experts have postulated that EDCs may be contributors to the growing gender identity problem in America. Here are some endocrine disrupting chemicals that can affect chronic diseases:


  • Toxic elements like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury

  • Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides

  • Persistent Organic Chemicals like dioxins, and poly- chlorinated biphenyls

  • Burnt or dissolved plastics that produce bisphenols


While many environmental health challenges cannot be directly controlled due to a lack of political or economic power, we can minimize their deleterious health effects by eating whole and unprocessed foods, exercising regularly, getting quality sleep, managing stress, having a spiritual foundation and forming strong social connections.




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