What you can do for your (and the planet’s) health

During Earth Day last month, I noticed that aside from pesticide usage and a few other issues, most of us haven’t really worried much about the connections between our health and the environment. For our health, we work on our waistlines and fret over our cholesterol levels. For the environment, we recycle and maybe reduce our electrical consumption at home.

But because of accelerating climate change and the havoc it could wreak, it’s not so easy to send environmentalism off into its own separate compartment these days. Scientists tell us the evidence for global warming is “unequivocal” and it is worsening. Today, everything we do can now be measured for its effects on the environment — and greenhouse gas emissions in particular.

And each of us can help. “Individual actions can have ripple effects,” says Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. “We can educate our friends and colleagues, and work to change the practices of employers, schools, even places of worship. As individuals, I think we can set in motion new patterns of sustainable consumption and help create markets for clean, efficient technologies.”

So I thought that for this week, I’ll bring personal and environmental health together and provide you with some practical “green” health tips, such as:

• Walk or bike to work. At a bare minimum, we’re supposed to get 20 to 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. However, the US Institute of Medicine says that isn’t really enough and recommends a full hour of moderately intense activity a day. But many Filipinos would rather drive than walk or bike. And the average fuel economy of new cars has declined since 1988 because of the popularity of minivans and SUVs. Vehicle kilometers traveled per person continue to grow and the proportion of commuters who carpool has slid since 1980. Could there be a better good-for-you, good-for-the planet twofer than the walking or biking commute? Combining exercise and commute builds exercise into your day, which means you don’t have to summon extra willpower, to say nothing of time, to go to the gym. If you live too far away, consider walking or biking to public transportation or driving only part of the way.

• Go to bed early. Filipinos weigh more and are sleeping less. Average daily sleep time has decreased from about nine hours a century ago to about seven now. Epidemiologic studies have identified a correlation between short sleep and being overweight or obese. Hormones may be why: Lack of sleep depresses the levels of leptin, the hormone that tells the brain we’re full, and increases ghrelin, the hormone that makes us hungry. Meanwhile, all the lights, televisions, computers, microwave ovens, and music players that keep us up at night use electricity, most of it generated by burning coal and natural gas. Household use of electricity has increased by over 50 percent over the past 25 years. By turning in earlier, we’ll dial down our appetite for kilowatts and maybe food.

• Turn down the air-conditioning. Humans, like other mammals and birds, control their body temperature by continually adjusting their metabolisms. When the air is cool, metabolism revs up to produce more heat. When it’s hot, sweating and other responses also burn up extra energy. But when air temperatures are in the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) – which for humans with their clothes on tends to be in the mid-70s — our metabolism doesn’t have to work so hard to maintain body temperature, and we burn fewer calories. We’re spending more time in our TNZs these days, particularly because of air-conditioning. Some experts believe all that time in the comfort zone is contributing to the obesity epidemic. The amount of electricity used to cool houses has almost doubled since 1978. So by adjusting your thermostat, you may keep your metabolism from getting lazy and also use less of another kind of energy.

• Eat fish, but the right kind. Fish needs no introduction as a healthful food, especially to those of you who follow this column. As the main food source of long-chain omega-3s, it’s good for your heart and probably your brain. But the sterling health credentials have some environmental tarnish. Some species are contaminated with pollutants — mercury and PCBs are the main concern. Stocks of others have been dangerously depleted by too much fishing. There are now some groups who are working to steer consumers to species that are in good supply. For example, Environmental Defense, a New York-based environmental group, has posted a helpful list of best and worst fish choices at www.oceansalive.org. The Blue Ocean Institute also has a useful guide at www.blueocean.org/seafood.

• Switch to energy-saving light bulbs, but don’t throw them in the regular trash. Those curlicue compact fluorescent light bulbs are the real deal. They use two-thirds less energy than a regular incandescent bulb and last up to 10 times longer. The US National Resources Defense Council, a mainstream environmental group, estimates that each compact bulb keeps half a ton of carbon dioxide out of the air over its lifetime. But all fluorescent bulbs need mercury to work, and the compact versions contain about five mg. of the metal. That’s not much – an old-fashioned home thermometer contains a hundred times that amount — but if you throw them out in a regular trash, that mercury may end up in the air or water, and by climbing the food chain, in the fish or your plate. The environmentally good deed you performed by buying the light bulbs would be completely undone by the way you get rid of them. Call your town or city’s public works or sanitary department to find out where you can dispose of fluorescent light bulbs safely.

• Eat local fruits and vegetables. By all means, eat fruits and vegetables. Good health depends on it. But Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma raises some questions about the means by which to get them. Flying kiwis in from New Zealand and grapes from the United States is an energy-intensive way to fulfill the fruit-and-vegetable imperative. It’s possible only if energy is cheap, and cheap energy in this fossil fuel-era of ours means tons of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The Pollan book has inspired the buzzword “food miles” — how far food has been transported to reach our plates. “Local and sustainable” is flaunted as a virtue on restaurant menus. Besides, our local fruits actually taste much better!

• Don’t take more medications than you need to. In most cases, our bodies use only a fraction of any drug we take. The rest are excreted, but it doesn’t disappear once we’ve flushed. Scientists are still sorting out which drugs are causing significant harm and at what levels. But there’s already evidence that pharmaceuticals in waste water adversely affect aquatic ecosystems. Two years ago, Swedish environmental scientists reported that some betablockers and antibiotics, and carbamazepine (Tegretol, generic brands), an antiseizure medication, seemed to be especially persistent in a small river in the southern part of the country. All drugs have side effects, so for your own health, you should take medications that are necessary but no more. Now, the environmental consequences may be another reason to be prudent in our pill intake. And if you’ve got old medications, don’t flush them down the toilet. Leave them in the container and throw them in the regular trash, although be sure to scratch off any identifying information for privacy reasons. Mix a little dirt in the liquid medicine and put some water in pill bottles.

• Get behind the greening of hospitals and medical buildings. More first-class hospitals were built or renovated in Metro Manila in the past 10 years than in the previous 20 years before that period (Asian Hospital and Medical Center, Medical City, Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, and St. Luke’s Medical Center). Hospitals are getting more deluxe, with additional private rooms and equipped with more sophisticated technology. Hospitals are also seizing the opportunity to build “greener” buildings, which have attributes that may also improve the health and well-being of patients. For example, building hospitals with more natural light not only saves energy but may also enhance the mood of the patients (and staff). Some hospitals are taking steps to improve indoor air quality with proper ventilation and use of materials that don’t emit volatile organic compounds. As individuals, we can’t go build a green hospital the way we can buy an energy-efficient car. But we can encourage their construction by writing a letter (hospitals are very public relations-conscious) and supporting policies and programs that encourage energy-efficient construction.

Truly, in many ways, our health depends much on the health of Planet Earth! -Tyrone M. Reyes, M.D.