It may be hard to notice, but where we live ultimately affects our lifestyle. Of course, we do not directly see these effects as our attention is directed towards living our daily lives. But it has a subtle effect that has a deep influence on how we live our lives. This is one of the reasons why location matters so much when buying a new house.
One of the things that our environment heavily affects is our overall health. This includes our physical and mental well-being. But of course, not every location has the same effects on the inhabitants. With that, let’s look into how environments and neighborhoods affect our bodies and mind.
The Neighborhood
Our neighborhoods affect our health in many ways. Facilities in the area, as well as the overall quality of needs and amenities, can directly affect our health. Also, social factors in the neighborhood play a part in keeping us healthy.
Access to Beneficial Features and Amenities
Our health can be affected by how convenient we can access certain amenities. These amenities include public parks, recreation centers, and even exercise gyms. These places essentially help people exercise more and relieve their stress. Better access to these places can prompt the people in the locality to use them.
Also, proximity to nature can play a part in our mental well-being. It is well-documented how nature helps us relieve our stress and helps improve our cognitive abilities. This can be good for the people who live in landscapes with lush natural features.
Residing in areas with good amenities and a natural presence can mean a better life for people in the locality. With that, aspiring homeowners should assess their options wisely. There are developments such as Peppercorn Hill that future homeowners can check out for their new homes.
Of course, these are only a small part of how our location affects our health. Other factors affect our health in communities, and some of these are much harder to avoid. These factors include the air and water quality of an area.
Air and Water Quality
Every residential area consumes air and water. These two are basic needs that are essential for survival. People who live in neighborhoods with compromised air and water quality are at a higher risk of developing health conditions.
Air Pollution
Neighborhoods in highly urbanized places often have poorer air quality. This is due to industrial and vehicular fumes that are more prominent in the area. When we are exposed to bad air quality, we are at a higher risk of getting a wide range of lung diseases. Some of these include asthma, lung cancer, and bronchitis. This can even cause be the cause of heart diseases.
This is why living near highways, landfills, and industrial factories can be more dangerous for our lung health. These human activities significantly contribute to air pollution. The nearer we live in these sources of air pollution, the higher our risk of getting diseases will be.
This means that areas with good air quality are healthier. These places are often found outside urban spaces. These are mostly forest land and spaces where trees are prominent.
Trees play an integral part in avoiding air pollution. For one, they create oxygen from carbon dioxide. They also catch particulate matter in the air. More trees mean cleaner air, which is why it is healthier to live around plenty of trees.
Water Contamination
Water quality, on the other hand, is a different story. Safe drinking water is generally accessible to the public. But there is still a chance that the water we use for daily living can be contaminated. Surface water still needs to be treated heavily before being distributed to homes.
Harmful substances can still find their way into the water system, as traces of these contaminants have been found in every state in the United States. Also, there are around 2 billion people that use contaminated water all over the world. These can cause illnesses such as cancer. Some may also be contaminated with microbes that can cause diarrhea and even hepatitis. This is dangerous because it is hard to know if water has been contaminated.
These factors only emphasize the need to choose a location for our home that does not put our health in danger. Some factors are widely environmental and are much more complicated to address. It is our responsibility as human beings to make sure that every person gets to live in a place that is safe in every aspect. With that, we must work together not just for ourselves but also for the future generations that will come after us.
