Vegetated land cover near residence is associated with reduced allostatic load and improved biomarkers of neuroendocrine, metabolic and immune functions

Egorov, Andrey I.; Griffin, Shannon M.; Converse, Reagan R.; Styles, Jennifer N.; Sams, Elizabeth; Wilson, Anthony J.; Jackson, Laura E.; Wade, Timothy J.

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2017.07.009

Cited by 119 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 108 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…If air pollution acts as a chronic stressor, contributing to allostatic load and accelerating the progression of stress-associated diseases, gradients in exposure to stressors and individual differences in sensitivity and behavior may act as important modifiers of health impacts. Factors associated with resilience may also modify the response to pollutants, as suggested by evidence that exposure to natural environments (e.g., green and blue spaces) is associated with protective effects, including improvements in allostatic load measures, cardiovascular and mental health outcomes, and risk of cause-specific mortality [121][122][123].…”

Section: Allostatic Load: Cumulative Physiological Dysfunction From Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution, Stress, and Allostatic Load: Linking Systemic and Central Nervous System Impacts

Thomson

2019

JAD

176

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality. A growing literature also links exposure to diverse air pollutants (e.g., nanoparticles, particulate matter, ozone, traffic-related air pollution) with brain health, including increased incidence of neurological and psychiatric disorders such as cognitive decline, dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), anxiety, depression, and suicide. A critical gap in our understanding of adverse impacts of pollutants on the central nervous system (CNS) is the early initiating events triggered by pollutant inhalation that contribute to disease progression. Recent experimental evidence has shown that particulate matter and ozone, two common pollutants with differing characteristics and reactivity, can activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and release glucocorticoid stress hormones (cortisol in humans, corticosterone in rodents) as part of a neuroendocrine stress response. The brain is highly sensitive to stress: stress hormones affect cognition and mental health, and chronic stress can produce profound biochemical and structural changes in the brain. Chronic activation and/or dysfunction of the HPA axis also increases the burden on physiological stress response systems, conceptualized as allostatic load, and is a common pathway implicated in many diseases. The present paper provides an overview of how systemic stress-dependent biological responses common to particulate matter and ozone may provide insight into early CNS effects of pollutants, including links with oxidative, inflammatory, and metabolic processes. Evidence of pollutant effect modification by non-chemical stressors (e.g., socioeconomic position, psychosocial, noise), age (prenatal to elderly), and sex will also be reviewed in the context of susceptibility across the lifespan.

show abstract

Section: Allostatic Load: Cumulative Physiological Dysfunction From Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution, Stress, and Allostatic Load: Linking Systemic and Central Nervous System Impacts

Thomson

2019

JAD

176

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The last decade has witnessed a marked increase in research supporting the mental and physical benefits of biodiversity and experience in natural environments (oft-referred to as green space) [74][75][76]. The interplay of potentially beneficial and detrimental experiences is central to biological buffering and the concept of resiliency; exposure to green space and elements of natural environments-including microbial-appear to play a role in psycho-biological resiliency over the life course [77][78][79].…”

Section: Clinical Ecology-houses Of the Housesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Ecology—Transforming 21st-Century Medicine with Planetary Health in Mind

Nelson¹,

Prescott

Logan³

et al. 2019

Challenges

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Four decades ago, several health movements were sprouting in isolation. In 1980, the environmental group Friends of the Earth expanded the World Health Organization definition of health, reminding citizenry that, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, social and ecological well-being and not merely the absence of disease—personal health involves planetary health”. At the same time, a small group of medical clinicians were voicing the concept of “clinical ecology”—that is, a perspective that sees illness, especially chronic illness, as a response to the total lived experience and the surroundings in which “exposures” accumulate. In parallel, other groups advanced the concept of holistic medicine. In 1977, the progressive physician-scientist Jonas Salk stated that “we are entering into a new Epoch in which holistic medicine will be the dominant model”. However, only recently have the primary messages of these mostly isolated movements merged into a unified interdisciplinary discourse. The grand, interconnected challenges of our time—an epidemic of non-communicable diseases, global socioeconomic inequalities, biodiversity losses, climate change, disconnect from the natural environment—demands that all of medicine be viewed from an ecological perspective. Aided by advances in ‘omics’ technology, it is increasingly clear that each person maintains complex, biologically-relevant microbial ecosystems, and those ecosystems are, in turn, a product of the lived experiences within larger social, political, and economic ecosystems. Recognizing that 21st-century medicine is, in fact, clinical ecology can help clear an additional path as we attempt to exit the Anthropocene.

show abstract

“…Other research can also be drawn on to suggest that a reported strong attachment to the natural environment (especially if we assume this is associated with an increase in immersion in it) is likely to be beneficial. It is known that exposure to chronic stress, experienced by many in a post-disaster setting, is associated with physiological deviations in stress markers such as cortisol which, in turn, have been linked to poor health outcomes including depression and anxiety disorders, immunosuppression and cardiovascular disease (Kondo et al, 2018, Egorov et al, 2017. There are a wide range of posited mechanisms for the therapeutic mental health benefits of exposure to green space.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the natural environment in disaster recovery: “We live here because we love the bush”

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This mixed-methods study explored the role of connection to the natural environment in recovery from the 'Black Saturday' bushfires that blazed across Victoria, Australia, in February 2009. Qualitative findings demonstrated that many participants had a strong connection to the natural environment, experienced considerable grief as a result of its devastation in the fires and drew solace from seeing it regenerate over the following months and years. Quantitative analyses indicated that a strong attachment to the environment was associated with reduced psychological distress, fewer symptoms of major depression and fire-related PTSD, and higher levels of resilience, post-traumatic growth and life satisfaction. While social connections are increasingly recognized as supportive of disaster recovery, the influence of landscapes also needs to be recognized in terms of the impact of their destruction as well as their therapeutic potential.

show abstract

Vegetated land cover near residence is associated with reduced allostatic load and improved biomarkers of neuroendocrine, metabolic and immune functions

Abstract: The observed effects of vegetated land cover on allostatic load and individual biomarkers are consistent with prevention of depression, cardiovascular disease and premature mortality.

Cited by 119 publications

References 108 publications

Air Pollution, Stress, and Allostatic Load: Linking Systemic and Central Nervous System Impacts

Air Pollution, Stress, and Allostatic Load: Linking Systemic and Central Nervous System Impacts

Clinical Ecology—Transforming 21st-Century Medicine with Planetary Health in Mind

The role of the natural environment in disaster recovery: “We live here because we love the bush”

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About