"When I was a kid, I spent my suburban summer days exploring the nooks and crannies of my backyard, roaming the woods with my siblings and friends and riding my bike on long expeditions. "Be home when the street lights come on," was the general rule Mom gave us. The outdoors was our second home, where we played, lived and learned." (Cindy Crosby 1). Cindy Crosby’s childhood differed tremendously from anything a child might experience today. As improving technology allows for more leisure and lethargy, more and more humans spend their time indoors. A more modern human's lifestyle includes eating processed and cultured foods, exposing oneself to harmful radiation in the name of beauty, and possibly exercise-but only if properly motivated. An indoor environment invites us to a safe haven of cleanliness, carelessness, and indulgence; however, do the many hidden molds, bacteria, and polluted particles make the indoor environment more dangerous than an outdoor one? From the foods consumed to the water imbibed, human perception of what is “more natural and healthy” skews the perception of a life spent primarily indoors as being healthier than the opposite option. Although some would argue that an indoor environment filters polluted air, protects from bugs, and fortifies against microbes, but those critics of an outdoor environment do not acknowledge the detrimental effects of spending so much time indoors. Human beings are primarily outdoor animals, and although our lifestyles have drastically changed in the past one hundred years, living in a completely sterile indoor habitat with many unrealized dangers depreciates the multiple benefits one could receive by spending time outdoors. The time spent outdoors leads to a range of benefits, ... ... middle of paper ... ...ngesting harmful pollutants or UV radiation, others note that solutions for combating such risks exist. Such solutions include going outside for a short period of time and performing activities such as exercise which causes one to need oxygen or opening windows whenever possible to allow some fresh, unpolluted air to circulate in one’s home. While indoors, one must make sure to not over sterilize items or to consume synthetic ingredients, for both of those actions shall lead to possible health consequences later on in life. Buying fresh produce and sterilizing at certain time intervals could combat such dangers one faces in an indoor environment. The gargantuan health benefits one would receive if one maintained a healthy balance of living in both an indoor and outdoor environment should prompt many to take these steps to ensure a healthy and happy lifestyle.
Various moral and physical environments can greatly influence the beliefs, ideas, and decisions people make. Our moral environment shapes people's surrounding climate of ideas, influencing how they live. Our physical environment is what individuals depend on, even though it is extremely fragile. Whether one admits it or not, atmospheres can affect everything that occurs in life, and can significantly change people's quality of life over the years. Understanding this concept in depth can be difficult. Furthermore, you might find yourself in a spiral of questions and concerns on how exactly these environments affect human beings. Blackburn's Being Good and Nottage's Sweat give exquisite examples and inferences on how we are affected from the
Imagine a scenic, wild landscape with animals that roam freely, cascading waterfalls, and mountains that seem to scrape the pale blue sky. This is what one thinks when first hearing the name Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, the reality is completely opposite. Yosemite is now under a federally regulated Class 1 area under the Clean Air Act, which is equivalent to the pollution of Los Angeles (“National Parks Service”). It is a sad comparison to the past John Muir, who first documented Yosemite Valley, to today’s reality. The condition of Yosemite National Park should be introduced to the American public in order to protect its historic beauty and significance, eliminate current pollution, and prevent future repercussions.
Why Getting Outside is So Good for You. SparkPeople, Inc., 2014. Web. 9 May 2014. .
The debate over technology being healthy for our children has been a debate that has gone on for years. It appears as though the tragedy that children are missing out on hands-on nature is definitely something we all must learn to accept. Nicholas D. Kristof hits the nail on the head when he suggest that we try to preserve nature but we don’t promote natural activity such as hiking, biking, camping, and “discovering the hard way what a wasp nest looks like”. Kristof does an effective job getting the point across on experiencing nature and limiting technology. He is a father that is destined for his young daughter to know about the outdoors with personal experimentation. Kristof’s intended audience is geared toward people that want their children and themselves to be involved in nature, but they have been consumed with this technological age.
The episode of Designing Healthy Communities that I watched discussed the impact of the environment on communities and our health. It also discussed how our generation needs to preserve or better our environment for future generations, so that our future generations can enjoy what we have or better than what our generation had. Such as, the Onondaga Lake and the mercury that will be in there for many years to come. With all the mercury in the lake it is not healthy to drink the water or eat the fish but, with high hopes it will be some day. In addition, this episode Richard Jackson continues to discuss and illustrate that where someone lives in a community can affect their health. Especially in association
If people never have a need to go out, they never will. Bradbury wrote another short story, “The Pedestrian”, in the perspective of a man who dares to go out when everyone else is inside. “In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time”(“The Pedestrian”). New, advanced electronics may give people everything they need, keeping them inside and taking away any time outside. Not only can never going out hurt people emotionally, but physically also. “The physical act of going outside can do an awful lot to improve your health and wellness in numerous ways”(healthguidance.org). Staying inside all the time causes a lack of vitamins and minerals needed and lessens exercise which can cause a body to degenerate faster, overall causing an early death. If people never need to go outside they will not and they may become very unhealthy, and advances in technology may cause this to happen
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
It is necessary to change and optimize one's environment to promote comfort and healing, because poor sanitation leads to poor health.
...uller-Thompson et al., 2000). In general, it is assumed that people living in a well - developed environment are more likely in better health condition since they could be more active outside of their residence (Kuo et al., 1998); while poor housing condition could increase the risks of physical health problem (Dunn, 2000).
There are many social determinants that are present in our society, yet many of these determinants are not discussed. This is due to the fact that categorizing and discussing social groups and determinants is often seen as controversial. Although this may be true, comprehending and discussing these determinants are essential, as many of these determinants affect our health. These determinants affect our health simply by altering our own actions as well as the environment around us. Thus, comprehension of social determinants, the environment, and its ultimate connection with an individual’s lifestyle is essential in assessing many of the public health issues prevalent
Not only is it the individuals lifestyle that contributes to their overall health, but it is also things such as their environment that they live and the circumstances they live in (World Health Organization).These are called determinants. When discussing environment pertaining to health, we must take into consideration that this also means the social, economic, physical environment. As stated by Levins and Lopez, “Genes may influence how we relate to our environments, while society can determine the environments that we face..” (p. 270) indiciating that it is not only one factor that determines our health, but many. At a York University Conference held in Toronto in 2002, 14 different social determinants of health were using ranging from Aboriginal status to unemployment, to food insecurity (Mikkonen, Raphael, 2010). There are also factors such as income and social factors, education, genetics, social support networks, health services and even gender that are determinants of health. Something we individuals need to remember is that we cannot blame people for having bad health when some of the determining factors are completely out of their control. I feel that a person 's physical environment are one of the most important determinants of health due to the damage it can do to one if they have a poor environment surrounding them. Where an individual is born and raised is not a choice that people get to
Fishing is one of the most popular forms of outdoor recreation in the United States. Estimates of the rate of participation and number of persons 16 years and older participating range from 17% or 35.2 million to 29% or 57.9 million (USDOI and USDOC 1997; Cordell et al.1999).Fishing is popular outdoor activity than other activities because it low cost and physical demands. From an economic demand standpoint, more anglers to choose destinations that are similar in quality, nearby, and at lower cost so they can make more trips than they would to more distant destinations (Loomis and Walsh 1997).
or her society and taking up conflicting, and sometimes completely opposite, values. It is important to note, however, that healthy and unhealthy should not be taken as either inherently positive or negative in this context. An environment that can be healthy for one person may be unhealthy for another. They should be thought of in reference to an individual and whether that particular environment is healthy or unhealthy for that specific
Whole foods advocate and author, Ann Wigmore, once stated, “The food you eat can be either the safest and the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” As time progresses, society is now becoming more and more aware of harmful substances that have been entering their bodies throughout their entire lives and are now taking more precautions when it comes to preventing diseases from contaminated foods and drinks. The organic movement began around the 1940’s in response to the latest, and thought to be, greatest Green Revolution, in response to the increase in productivity of global agriculture due to new advances in food production. At the time, new chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides were introduced to farmers.