Environmental Changes to Support Mental Health - Part 1
Environmental Changes to Support You and Your Family’s Physical and Mental Health
The Environment and You/ Your Child’s Goals & Wellbeing
At the beginning of the year, so many of us are focused on new goals and habits. This can be true of ourselves, or dreams we have for our families. We’re full of hope for how good we’ll feel physically and mentally.
We work hard, make plans, and try to keep up our motivation.
But do we ever think about whether our environment is helping us with our goals, or actually working against us?
Here are a few science-backed environmental changes you can consider to help you with you and your family’s physical and mental health goals this year:
Light exposure
Look around you right now. What your lighting situation in this moment? Consider whether you have natural light coming in, whether your overhead lights or lamps are cool or warm, and the impact of the light from this very screen (more on tech in Part 2).
Now, think about your lighting more broadly. Everyone, but especially teens, can be very sensitive to environmental cues that alter our circadian rhythms and mood regulation.
While this is a whole field of science with a lot of nuance, simply put, bright lights wake us up. They tell or circadian rhythm, or our biological clock, that it’s time to be alert. They’ll stimulate hormones to keep us awake and trick us into thinking it’s daytime, even if it’s not. Instead, our goal is to align lighting with our biological clock and daily rhythms to feel like our best selves, physically and mentally.
Consider how your or your teen’s lighting may be affecting you, and whether that’s aligned with your schedule and goals.
Aim for bright light exposure in the morning. If natural light is not possible (hello, Michigan winters and early morning school schedules), consider how you can add more bright light exposure in the early hours.
Aim for softer and dimmer light in the evening. Consider switching out the temperature of your lightbulbs, and using softer lamps in the later part of the day.
2. Green space exposure
We often hear about blue light exposure, but have you heard about green space exposure? Green space is defined as “various forms of outdoor vegetation,” so this is a pretty flexible and broad concept.
Exposure to green space has been strongly linked to enhanced mental health and well-being in children. Specifically, green space exposure has been associated with improved mood, stress reduction, and coping with life events.
Excitingly, green space exposure is also linked with cognitive performance! Late breaking science is showing that this may even be related to the impact of green space exposure on the functioning of genes which affect attention, self-regulation, and neurological processing.
Maybe it’s worth bundling up for an afternoon walk after school, or encouraging play outside before doing homework!
In the meantime, consider adding more plants to your home as well. If you add one to your child’s room, this may help them more immediately, and can also encourage independence and responsibility as well.
References:
Ballard, R., Parkhurst, J. T., Gadek, L. K., Julian, K. M., Yang, A., Pasetes, L. N., ... & Sit, D. K. (2024). Bright light therapy for major depressive disorder in adolescent outpatients: a preliminary study. Clocks & Sleep, 6(1), 56-71.
Giannotta, G., Ruggiero, M., & Trabacca, A. (2024). Chronobiology in Paediatric Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Harmonizing Care with Biological Clocks. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13(24), 7737.
Grigsby-Toussaint, D. S., Shin, J. C., Acevedo, A. R., Kemball-Cook, W., Story, D., Katz, A., ... & Dunsiger, S. I. (2024). Project G-SPACE: protocol for exploring the influence of green space on sleep and mental health among children. BMC pediatrics, 24(1), 783.
Stay tuned for 3 more environmental changes you can make for you and your family’s mental health!