Why your brain can’t be trusted (sometimes).

Environmental wellness is a part of the classic wellness wheel, and refers to our sense of comfort, safety and connection to our physical surroundings. Environmental factors affecting our well-being could be both physical and social. For example, air quality and access to healthcare.

Habituation is our brain’s tendency to tune out repeated stimuli. It happens in many areas of life and affects our behavior as individuals and as a society as a whole. Habituation plays a part in our personal well-being, as well as in bigger-scale processes, such as spread of misinformation, raising discrimination, or establishment or tyrannies. Fascinating thing.

Another feature (or bug?) of habituation - is our ability to stop noticing changes in our environment. It’s like the story about a frog that got boiled because it didn’t notice the gradual increase in temperature until it was too late. The boiled frog story isn’t scientifically accurate—but the metaphor still holds. Our brains really are wired to stop noticing gradual changes.

We moved from Virginia to Seattle in the summer of 2015. Everyone told us then that Seattle’s summers are very mild, and nobody even needs an AC. When we arrived on the 4th of July, it wasn’t the case. It was HOT. But because everybody kept insisting that it was just a random off summer, we decided not to worry much and happily got a house with no AC. 

Fast-forward a couple years, summers kept getting hotter and the wild fires brought in the smog. I remember vividly our family camping in the basement with all windows sealed, dog in the tub with cool water. It was 112F outside and smoke so dense we could barely see across the street. Still, many people wouldn’t seem to notice the pattern.

According to Frances Moore’s study in 2019, on average, it takes two to eight years for people to stop thinking that extreme temperatures are unusual. During this period people habituate to the weather and their perception of normal shifts. They keep sitting in the gradually boiling pot, without noticing something’s off.

Similar mechanism works for other large-scale environmental factors. We get used to air pollution, dirty water and high level of crime. Our bodies are even capable of physiological adjustments in order to provide us with a tolerable existence within a poor environment. However, the fact that we don’t notice the problems doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Another personal anecdote that comes to mind is about my first time visiting the US in 2011. I lived in Moscow with my fiancé, and we came to San Francisco in November. My now-husband still mentions this when we tell anybody about that visit, how blown away we were with people jogging on the streets right next to the cars. The air felt so clean! We only spent nine days in California before heading back to Moscow, but it was enough for us to habituate and to stop sensing the difference in the air quality. Until we got out of the airport and into Moscow traffic. That’s when it hit me like a MAC truck. I couldn’t breathe. The smell of exhaust was ridiculous. 

Long story short, I got sick during our ride from the airport, and realized then that when it comes to things we experience on a daily basis, our senses cannot be trusted. We habituate to pretty much everything. And while on one hand this feature enables us to not suffer as much on a daily basis, getting used to shitty living conditions will take a toll on our long-term well-being and longevity.

And the fact that our sensations can’t work as a trustworthy guide in determining whether or not our surroundings are healthy or not-so-much, it makes sense to rely on objective data when making decisions about settling down or relocating.

If moving is not an option, which I recognize is often the case, there are several things that could be done for protecting your well-being from large-scale environmental hazards.

• Do your homework. Figure out what problems does your area have. Don’t rely on your senses - they are most likely attuned to the conditions and can’t detect any issues. Use data regarding the quality of air, water contamination, allergens, climate specifics (such as gloom and doom in Pacific North West that contributes to the highest in the country use of anti-depressants). Know your own risk factors and do the math.

• Be mindful of the impact your personal choices make on the environment. It doesn’t have to be big,   simply not forgetting your reusable shopping bag in the car can make a difference.

• Plan getaways. Research places you can go for weekends/vacations to minimize your exposure to harmful surroundings.

• Invest into your home, because it’s a place where you spend a lot of time. Remember to change those air filters regularly and check for mold every once in a while.

It might feel like addressing global environmental issues as an individual is futile. However, I am a strong believer that we do have a say in global warming as well as in influencing the policy makers. By making choice to reduce unnecessary waste, minimize overconsumption, being mindful of where we throw our trash, and being careful with fire, etc., we do contribute to the better world.

Being aware of the risk factors in your region and your own sensitivity to them makes you better equipped in decision making. For people in high-risk groups this knowledge can be life-saving. Recognizing that your region’s ecology isn’t compatible with your personal health could be a valid reason to seek options for relocation, thus ensuring longer and higher quality life.

In the future posts I will continue the discussion of environmental wellness. But I’ll move from bird’s eye perspective to a much more manageable one. We’ll talk about our homes and work places, as well as neighborhoods - places and spaces where we spend the vast majority of our time, and which influence our well-being the most.

Stay tuned!