Friday 13 June 2014

List of Heart Disease Risk Factors Grows: Air Quality & Environmental Noise
A Healthy Heart is STRESS-FREE, a Healthy Environment is CLEAN & NOISELESS.

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Nature = Stress Free, Healthy Heart Zone

“A Healthy Environment Makes a Healthy Man” 
~ Unknown

Here are some Controllable Risk Factors for Heart Disease:
  
•    Smoking
•    High LDL, or "bad" cholesterol and low HDL, or "good" cholesterol
•    Uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure)
•    Physical inactivity
•    Obesity (more than 20% over one's ideal body weight)
•    Uncontrolled diabetes
•    Poor air quality
•    Noise

Sources: webmd.com: WebMD: Heart Disease Health Center: Risk Factors for Heart Disease ;
baqs.spph.ubc.ca: Border Air Quality Study: Noise and Air Quality Research

Whenever we see a list like this, it’s always interesting to note how entries such as “stress and anger” are listed as two separate items, as if they were in themselves unrelated. Likewise, noise and air pollution are shown unrelated to stress.

Now, obviously there are practical reasons for this. For instance, it’s clear that noise causes stress (at least, it should be common sense). Thus, it is not the noise itself that leads to heart disease, it is the stress it causes which matters. But one cannot say it is stress alone that causes heart disease because people might be tempted to believe a relaxing cocktail and a meditation CD will do the trick.

The key here is to recognize and distinguish between lifestyle factors and environmental factors. Whether or not one smokes is a lifestyle choice. Whether or not one works in a toxic workplace environment is less of a choice and more of an environmental circumstance.

Image: Healthy Environment Makes a Healthy Man  
Image Credit/Source: Quotes99.com: A healthy environment makes a healthy man


A study out of British Columbia published in 2010 asserts that workplace noise is a contributing factor to Heart Disease (Source: http://knowelty.com/study-shows-workplace-noise-can-lead-to-heart-disease/873839/).  Previous studies have shown various sources of noise pollution, including that from traffic and aircraft, are also risk factors. (Sources: http://baqs.spph.ubc.ca/border-air-quality-study/noise-and-air-quality-research; http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/aircraft-noise-tied-to-higher-heart-disease-risk-1.1931092)

Our previous posts on indoor air pollution (Sick Building Syndrome) are really a no-brainer. If smoking is a risk factor, so too must be toxic indoor environments.

It’s safe to say that all environmental factors contribute to stress. Anger, too, is a form of stress. So what, exactly is stress!? According to MedicineNet.com,
“…In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure).”

So, an environment that contributes to tension is a stressful environment. An environment which relieves tension is a healthy environment (at least where the heart is concerned). The key, then, is RELAXATION.

Suddenly it all becomes clear: all those relaxation CD’s featuring soft music and nature sounds. There are clearly sounds which relax. Fresh clean air relaxes. Natural impressions (pleasing sights, sounds, scents, textures, etc. created by nature) relax us. They alleviate tension. An environment flush with them alleviates tension and rejuvenates us.

PeapodLife creates such indoor environments. At home; the office; school; healing centres; wherever anyone lives, works, rests, heals, or plays, PeapodLife high-order rainforest ecosystems provide a healthy environment, for a healthy YOU!



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