Inspired by Anxiety: All Around You

September 19, 2018 Michael Trovato

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again because I firmly believe it: Everything. Is. Connected. If you can try to embrace that idea, then the solution to any particular source of anxiety may not come from just one area of our lives, but be pieced together by taking action in many other areas. While each post in this series is devoted to a particular dimension of health, there will inevitably be some overlap, which I’ll acknowledge as well. With that said, on to the next dimension:

All Around You

(Environmental Health)

It seems fitting, especially given the recent weather events with Hurricane Florence hitting the east coast this past week, that I dive into the environmental health portion of this mini-series. I’ll be honest, a few years ago if you had said the term “environmental health” to me, I probably would have assumed that you were talking about recycling, pollution, the weather, and going green— you know, things relating to the environment. Largely, that isn’t wrong.

THE environment, that is, the Earth’s environment as a whole, absolutely encompasses all of those things on a larger scale. But for as advanced as technology has become, we as humans can only be in one place at a time. And so, within the environment, we can also think about OUR environment— what’s around us in our immediate area and our surroundings not just outdoors, but in the indoor spaces we most often occupy.

I’ve written before about our needs in terms of the spaces we keep, but it’s worth revisiting and expanding on it with a more specific look at how our surroundings can play into anxiety. Again, I have yet to master optimizing my own environments, but I’ve taken mental notes from experience. Based on that, here are 3 areas of environmental health to consider when thinking about mental health:

Temperature

If a hot summer day or cold winter night can make us uncomfortable, it’s not a huge stretch that an overly warm bedroom can affect the way we sleep, or that a chilly office can impact our performance at work. Both of these things— sleep and work— are important, and both can play a role in the way we experience and manage our anxiety.

Personally, I overheat pretty easily. If I’m outside, mid-70s with a nice breeze is my ideal climate. Indoors, give me 68 degrees with some cool moving air; the warmer it is, the more I need moving air to feel comfortable. If it’s a little warm in an office setting I tend to get sleepy, and if it's too hot I have difficulty focusing. Although I don’t like to be too cold, either, I typically prefer a cooler room to a warm one, and that goes for work, sleep, and daily living.

via Giphy

If you can’t sleep well because your room is too hot, or aren’t as productive as you need to be at work because you’re too cold, it wouldn’t be surprising if you felt anxious, irritable, and stressed while having a more difficult time coping. Of course, in many situations we share our workspaces, whether it’s in a classroom or an office setting, and it may not always be possible to accommodate everybody’s temperature preferences. If you pay attention to your body and know how you function, it may help to communicate your optimal temperatures with the people sharing these spaces with you.

Noise

Pollution isn't just about the quality of the air we're breathing. Noise pollution is a thing, too. The first thing to realize is that there is a difference between “noise” and “sound.” Sound itself is a vibration that we can hear when it reaches our ears, while noise is an unwanted or disturbing sound. I also tend to think of unwanted thoughts as “mental noise,” but for now I’ll stick to the “unwanted sound” concept.

By these definitions, sound becomes noise when it is unwanted or disturbing to us. Your favorite songs may be just sound to you, but if the people around you hate that song or the volume it is playing at (teenagers, I’m talking to you here), that same song is probably noise to them. You may find white noise, like the sound of crashing waves or the rain, to be soothing or relaxing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not noise to someone who would prefer silence.

via Giphy

For me, there are varying degrees to which I can handle sound before it becomes anxiety-producing noise. For example, I can listen to music when I drive or work out without it being a distraction to me. If I’m doing chores around the house, I highly prefer listening to music because it makes the time go faster and the cleaning more tolerable.

On the other hand, I’m someone who needs almost complete silence when I read or study, with the occasional exception of contemporary classical music by artists like the Vitamin String Quartet, usually played at a low volume through headphones or earbuds to block out other external sounds. That means no TV, no radio stations in the background, nothing. Even people having a conversation across the room while I’m trying to read presents such a distraction for me that I consider it to be noise. I find that in these situations, I become extremely anxious when I can’t block out these disruptions.

In this way, whether a sound is noise depends on your level of tolerance for that sound. It’s all relative, not just to each of us individually, but within different contexts. It can be easy to take noise for granted because it’s not something we can touch or see, but knowing your threshold for sound and when sound becomes noise to you is something worth considering when thinking about your environment. If you can fall asleep at a concert, more power to you. If you like reading with ambient sounds, that’s cool. And if you need quiet, know that about yourself and do your best to adjust the sound/noise levels your environment to match your mindset.

Clutter

If you thought I was going to put recycling or fresh air here, you’re not wrong, but those seemed too cliche. Yes, recycling is good for the (Earth’s) environment, and getting fresh air has its benefits to many people, but let’s think a little outside the box here… by thinking more inside the box. In this case I’m talking specifically about boxes, bins, storage containers, sheds, the kitchen sink, closet spaces, desks, tabletops, the trunk of your car, corners of rooms, or entire rooms in your house that may have effectively become massive storage containers.

I’m a huge culprit here—my belongings are often all over the place and so I’m not judging if this is you, too. That being said, I have become aware of how easily these things can pile up over time. I’ve also become aware of the effect it can have on our mentality.

Similar to noise, we all have varying levels of tolerance for clutter, ranging from the super-organized to those who struggle with hoarding tendencies. That also doesn’t mean that those of us who aren’t as organized like to be less organized. Believe me, I would love to be more organized, but it’s easier said than done.

Clutter in small amounts can be mildly intrusive, but tolerable. It’s when those small amounts build over time that it can become more of an issue. You might think, well if it bothers you that much, why not just organize it? Or, if you didn’t let it get so bad in the first place, you wouldn’t have to do a massive cleanup later on.

Sure (mom), you’re not wrong. Technically, I could open a piece of mail as soon as it arrives in the mailbox, read it (in silence), and file it where it belongs right away. But when you’re constantly running from one thing to the next, it may be easier in that moment to put that piece of mail on top of yesterday’s mail and save it for the weekend… at least in theory.

via Pinterest

On a larger scale, when those “I’ll do it over the weekend” things get pushed to the following weekend, and the following weekend, and so on, eventually things will have built up to the point where you’ll have real mess. Even then, “just clean it” may not be as cut-and-dry of a solution as it seems. Sometimes the mental preparation it takes to approach cleaning can feel as overwhelming than the clutter itself, if not more so. Maybe it’s because we know that in order to address an extremely cluttered space, we may need to set aside a substantial chunk of time that will prevent us from doing other things. When we already feel like we don’t have enough time to begin with, that can easily lead to even more anxiety.

There are many ways to combat this— clean/organize in the first place before it becomes a mess, set aside weekly time to handle small amounts of clutter, don’t hold onto so many things, etc. Ultimately, whatever solution works for you will likely be based on self-discipline and time management. Again, easier said than done, but acknowledging that a cluttered environment is causing you anxiety is an important step in a positive direction.

It’s easy to think of environmental health as recycling, saving energy, and getting quality air. Those things are definitely part of it, and if you’re not sure how or where to access them, here are a few resources:

Composting
Fresh Air Fund
How to recycle common materials
Quality Air
Renewable Energy
Where to recycle

via Giphy

Your home, office, and places where you spend the most time also make up your own personal level of environmental health. We may take this for granted, but it’s the things that surround us that impact the way we function, feel, and live on a day-to-day basis. I encourage you to think about what makes you comfortable in these environments, and just as importantly, what makes you uncomfortable. Knowing and addressing these things can help guide you to create a more pleasant personal environment that reduces stress and anxiety by allowing you to sleep better, work better, and live better.