COGWHEELS #9 - Environmental Factors

The Environment is the topic of the final CogWheel of Brain Health. Like all of the other eight CogWheels, there is robust research suggesting that the environment has a profound effect on our health and wellbeing. While other Cogwheels focus internally, the environmental CogWheel turns our attention outward to external factors and conditions. 

Any environmental condition that we ingest into our body or mind, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, has the potential to impact our health, our mood and our thinking. Environmental impacts can be both positive and negative. In general, exposures to enriched environments promote longevity, learning and happiness. Exposures to impoverished environments, dangerous environments have the opposite effect. They reduce our health, our happiness, our productivity and our ability to develop our potential. 

This episode encourages you to evaluate your environment and to avoid conditions impoverish your experience, while embracing environmental conditions that enrich your life. 

Environment Chapters

• Introduction
• Nature/Nurture – genes or environment
• Epigenetics
  
  
• Impoverished Environments
  • Pollution
  • Toxins
  • Danger & Violence
  • Over-crowding
  • Poor Sanitation
  • Scarcity of Resources
  • Poverty
• Enriched Environments
  • Physical & Mental Stimulation
  • Positive Social Engagement
  • Learning & Development 
  • Safety & Security
• Assessing Your Environment

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:42 Nature vs. Nurture; Genes vs. the Environment
• 5:09 Epigenetics
• 7:28 Impoverished Environments
• 14:43 Enriched Environments
• 16:20 Assessing Your Environment
• 18:59 Conclusion