How the environment affects man

When this conference appears on the bulletin board at the University of Pavia , one cannot ignore it. There is no doubt that the environment conditions man: interest in Feng Shui , the “medicine of the habitat” has increased, and workshops on forms of living, such as Vastu , find it increasingly successful. , the “yoga of the house”.

To reiterate this, now, is also a neurobiologist, Lamberto Maffei , for years Director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the CNR and president of the Lincei academy. 

The environment in which animals and humans live can affect, even change brain functioning . An enriched environment brings good things, while an environment that is poor and deprived of social aids and stimuli presents a much greater risk of developing ailments and diseases. 

As explained in an interview with the local newspaper La Provincia Pavese , Maffei argues that man depends half on genetics and half on the environment in which he lives. 

City center: when the environment makes you live longer

During one of his lectures , the professor cited the example of the English city of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland, where the doctor Michael Marmot has recently carried out a study also taken up by the World Health Organization  showing that there is diversity with regard to the prospects of life, from the center to the periphery .

In fact, as evidenced by the same, in the center of the city the average is about 80 years, while it decreases in the suburbs , reaching 60.

In this case, the gap would not be only between rich and poor, but also between various types of elderly people : those in the city center who often meet and still have contact with the outside world and those isolated and closed in the suburbs, alone because maybe children work elsewhere, devoid of positive stimuli that bring the brain back to life.

The environment makes its influence felt already at an early age , in the neonatal phase. The sweaty Maffei reminds us that “ the human being is a body in a space . (…) The rain, the sun, the singing birds, the honking of a horn, are as important as medicines and antibiotics ”.

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Beware of telematic isolation

The professor also warns young people about the use of mobile phones and smartphones , because in fact they are isolated, their messages are evanescent.

People prefer to use the keys and even consider using the voice on the phone as something old and intrusive. Thus we risk losing the word, and with it humanity. 

A recent survey on Italian families  entitled “Tempo del web. Teens and parents online ” , created by  SOS Il Telefono Azzurro Onlus  in collaboration with Doxakids, on the occasion of Safer Internet Day (SID) 2016, emphasized that adolescents are perennially connected, that they communicate via  chat with their parents,  who they are often  unaware of the risks  their children may encounter  online .   

Maffei’s final advice is to use the environment as a therapy , not to stay isolated for too long during the day, as it can lead to various pathologies and disorders, such as depression ; instead it is important to continue to frequent lively environments , to enjoy the world, nature and contact with others, to move.