Environmental wellness

This month, as part of our continued examination of the wellness wheel and practices that support balance as a key to well-being, we will be exploring environmental wellness, the practice of living in a way that supports your well-being and the health of the planet. Environmental self-care is the practice of taking care of your environment.

Whether we realize it or not, the spaces that we inhabit play a significant role in our well-being. Environments include our homes, schools, workplace, community, planet and nature. Your overall wellness is strongly linked to your environment. The environment around us shapes our identities, influences our productivity levels and is a major indicator of our overall mental health. Environmental wellness involves our ability to feel physically safe and to be able to access clean air, food and water. This includes both our microenvironment (places where we live, learn, work) and our macro-environment (our communities, country and the planet). All these environments have the potential to positively or negatively impact overall health and well-being.

Access to available services and support can help to create spaces that promote learning, contemplation, and relaxation. Our physical environment affects stress levels and fatigue, as well as our access to social relationships, which can be particularly crucial for individuals with mental health conditions. Studies show that spending time in nature is an underutilized health promotion strategy. Our environment can shape our identities, influence our productivity levels, and may be a major influence over our overall mental health. Ensuring that people experience time outside (e.g., at parks, beaches, farms, lakes, rivers, gardens) can lower stress, improve mood, and enhance overall well-being. Reducing stress and increasing access to social support are fundamental to recovery and decreasing negative mental health symptoms.

Your sense of safety, comfort and connection with your physical surroundings is known as environmental well-being. It involves thinking about the ways that you interact with your surroundings and your community. Living in closer harmony with the world and your community can improve your environmental well-being.

Environmental wellness cultivates good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being. It promotes interaction with nature and creates an enjoyable personal environment.

• Appreciating nature by spending time in nature and recognizing the interconnectedness of people and the environment.

• Being aware by learning how your environment affects you and how your actions affect the environment.

• Conserving resources by conserving energy, recycling, repurposing and reducing consumption.

• Creating supportive spaces by making your home and workspace pleasing and nurturing.

• Protecting the environment by minimizing your impact on the environment and caring for the planet.

• Recycling paper, glass and cans.

• Composting food scraps, when possible.

• Turning off unused lights.

• Planting a tree.

• Donating clothes, you no longer wear.

• Reducing your use of plastic bags and straws.

Whether you are donating clothes you no longer use, recycling your trash or planting a tree, actively caring for your physical surroundings can improve your health, the health of our community, and the planet.

The environmental dimension of wellness helps us evaluate our safety, security and sustainability within nature and our personal environment. Travel and global experiences have a significant impact on the environment, program and service locations and your personal surroundings. To learn more about environmental wellness, please visit http://www.nih.gov/health-information/environmental-wellness-toolkit/.

Carla Cook is a Clinical Supervisor at Healing Solutions Family Therapy Center.