Toxic environments, brain disease, and brain health

People tend to think of toxic environments in terms of chemical, biological and sometimes psychological toxins. One important aspect of toxic environments that is vastly undertaken into account is toxicity to the brain.

Concern for the brain is considered under the rubrics of physiology and psychology, but in a more limited scope. For example, effects of toxins on the brain or how psychological imbalances may affect brain chemistry are taken into consideration. Sleep is taken into consideration, but often without regard to the physical conditions which actually effect sleep. Sleep is treated like an abstract entity that either somehow is working or not working. Of, if physical conditions are considered, they are usually limited to things like light exposure, bedtime routines, etc.

Such an approach is utterly naive and can disregard fundamental disruptors to sleep and brain health which, if not addressed, can lead to a catastrophic state of brain disease.

What is neglected is the actual health of the brain in terms of its overall well-being, the actual state it is in.

Like everything else, the brain has requirements. Not only does it require nutrients and avoidance of toxins, it also requires an actual physical environment that does not harm it.

A brain that is forced to exist in a physical environment which poses chronic stress upon it is a brain that is diseased. Given that the brain is one of the most important organs of the body, the health of which is utterly essential for a person to not just thrive but even just to survive, the fact that brain health is so severely neglected is a severe condemnation of our society.

Yet as of the present moment, brain health is an utterly neglected area of concern to health professionals and regulatory and oversight agencies. California assiduously requires posting of notices for presumably carcinogenic compounds to be posted, yet its physical environment across the state is an absolute catastrophe in terms of noise which is a serious assault to the brain.

Loud environmental noise is a profound insult upon organisms and one that is almost completely ignored in the United States. I say ‘upon organisms’ and not just ‘upon people’ because this is a serious, catastrophic issue for wildlife and its neglect is a serious scandal and failure of the societal contract at the most basic level to uphold fundamental standards for life and healthy communities.

Just as the astronomically-increasing Gini Coeffieient – the income disparity between those at the upper echelons of society and those in the lowest – is a sign of our sick society moving in the wrong direction, so too the disparity in terms of noise exposure and the ability to maintain brain health is increasing.

Are the health professionals and people responsible for health and safety just stupid, or are they just complacent with a status quo which afflicts millions of people in lower echelons of society whom it is easy to simply blow off, often quite hypocritically? The answer is probably both: People who get medical degrees are often trained with a narrow vision of the body and of health, and also they tend to be from the upper echelons of society who, while they may be motivated by innate guilt to want to seem caring about society, have no real connection to reality upon which to realize any impulses of concern they may feel.

Whatever the case, as a citizen in the United States, you should not expect your health care provider nor any government nor regulatory agencies to give a shit about your brain health. It is important to understand this and that you may very easily be exposed to toxic conditions which can pose a serious threat to your health and well-being.

This should be the topic of another post, but there is a huge political angle to fully acknowledging brain health. If it were fully acknowledged by society, vast amounts of housing would have to be condemned. Large numbers of property owners would be liable for injury. Monetary damages could be in the billions of dollars.

To even start to try untangling this absolute disastrous mess would cost a huge amount of money and result in extensive disruption. No one wants to do it, and as with so many other things that are ‘provided’ by society, it is often the ‘providers’ who are responsible for the actual deprivation.

Everyone therefore needs to start thinking about their brain health and how their brain feels. Do you feel tired, foggy, or lethargic? Chronically so? Do you have difficulty concentrating? Lake of mental stamina? Do you reach points where you are not able to regulate your emotional balance well? Are you in states where your ability to socialize healthily is severely disrupted? Are you ‘not yourself’ quite often? Are you irritable? Frequently anxious? Do you not have dreams or have a lot of bad dreams? Is your sleep broken and disrupted?

All of these are serious symptoms of brain disease and you should consider it your number one priority to recognize it and start dealing with it. Because, if your brain is unhealthy, it can and will affect everything else in your life.

In the next post I will write about steps you can and should start taking immediately to help heal your sick brain. As a start, it’s important to understand and know that your brain can heal. You do not have to live with a chronically sick brain. You will be able to be healthy again.