How Can The Environment Impact Your Mental Health

12/07/2022

Mental disorder is among the most prevalent health issues today, and the circumstances surrounding them are multi-factorial and complex. Most people believe that mental diseases are a family trait. This may be accurate, but genetics is only one among the many factors. Several variables, such as your environment, can cause mental health disorders. In fact, the environment is one of the critical triggers causing mental health disorders.

In a moment, you will understand two of the greatest environmental factors that play a significant role in your mental health disorder and the possible way to stay healthy.

Social Environmental Factors

The term "social, environmental factors" refers to ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, and related conditions that may impact your ability to manage stress. One instance is the need for a solid social network. For example, assume someone loses their job or gets divorced. Professionals with advanced degrees in family and marriage management explained that a solid family and friends at that crucial time would help people cope and recover from such stressful situations efficiently.

In this category, there are many more stressors that will affect you. The common ones are mentioned below:

  • Abuse history
  • Family negligence
  • Social stigmas like lesbian and gay
  • Poverty
  • Loss of parent early in life
  • Absence of religious affiliation or spirituality
  • Toxic relationship
  • Lack of proper job or hobbies
  • Poor personal care or sport

Physical Environmental Factors

Physical environmental factors that can influence the chemistry of your brain, your physiology, and your biology are the ones that impact your mental health status. When you already have an imbalanced mental status, they enhance it; if you don't already, they can act as the trigger. For instance, if you don't have access to essential health products like nutrient-rich whole foods or fruits but instead depend on refined and processed food, the function of your brain chemistry will be altered. Therefore once you are exposed to a significant stressor, you will not be able to cope effectively.

Apart from the unhealthy nutrition mentioned above, some physical and environmental challenges affect your mental state. Among the commonest ones are:

  • Hazardous working condition
  • Sleep deprivation
  • Pollution
  • Smoking
  • Abuse of substance
  • Childhood exposure to a toxin
  • Extreme conditions of weather like excessive snow or rainfall

Conclusion

As you have seen, to have a well-balanced mental status, you must be in an excellent social, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional state. While it is true that you can inherit mental health disorders, many factors, such as physical, social, economic, and genetic, play crucial roles. And for a mental health expert (psychologist) to effectively conclude that you have mental health challenge and place you in therapy, all these factors must be considered.