The influence of the environment on human health. Harmful substances and their effects on humans

Every year, people extract about 200 billion tons of rocks from the bowels of the earth, burn more than 9 billion tons of fuel equivalent, disperse up to 3 billion tons of pesticides on fields, etc. A particularly acute problem has become the problem of environmental pollution with anthropogenic toxicants: the global intake annually is 25.5 billion tons for carbon oxides, 65 billion tons for nitrogen oxides, etc.

Industrial enterprises, motor vehicles, nuclear weapons testing, excessive use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, etc. have a negative impact on the environment (Fig. 1). As a result of anthropogenic human activity on the globe, according to the World Observation Institute, the following occurs:

annual destruction of tropical rainforests on an area of 11 million hectares;

the annual occurrence of anthropogenic deserts on the globe on an area of about 6 million hectares;

annual loss of 26 billion tons of fertile layer of arable land;

damage to forests over an area of more than 31 million hectares as a result of acid rain.

Thousands of lakes in some countries have become biologically dead due to acid rain. At least 25-30 thousand species of vascular plants, etc. are under threat of extinction.

The intensive rate of environmental degradation poses a real threat to the existence of man himself. The UN and UNESCO have created a global monitoring system, the main objectives of which are to determine the degree of anthropogenic impact on the environment, forecast its condition in the future, etc.

Emissions from industrial enterprises, energy systems and transport into the atmosphere, water bodies and subsoil have reached such proportions that in a number of areas of the globe, pollution levels significantly exceed permissible sanitary standards. This leads, especially among the urban population, to an increase in the number of people suffering from chronic bronchitis, asthma, allergies, ischemia, and cancer.

Noise, vibration, infrasound, as well as exposure to electromagnetic fields and various radiations have an adverse effect on human life.

The human habitat - the environment - is characterized by a set of physical, chemical and biological facts that, under certain conditions, can have a direct or indirect immediate or long-term impact on human activity and health. That is why the problem of “Environment and human health” is very acute now.

For this reason, I became interested in this issue, because well-being and our own health concern us most of all, and the environment and the human body are components of the science of ecology. The steady increase in the flow of toxic substances into the environment, first of all, affects the health of the population, the quality of agricultural products deteriorates, reduces productivity, prematurely destroys homes, metal structures of industrial and civil buildings, affects the climate of certain regions and the state of the Earth's ozone layer, leads to to the death of flora and fauna. Oxides of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, lead compounds, dust, etc. entering the atmosphere. have various toxic effects on the human body.

Let us present the properties of some impurities. CO – colorless
and odorless gas. Affects the nervous and cardiovascular systems, causing suffocation. Primary symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning (headache) occur in a person after 2-3 hours of exposure to an atmosphere containing 200-220 mg/m 3 CO; at higher concentrations
With a feeling appears
pulse in the temples, dizziness.
CO toxicity increases in the presence of nitrogen in the air, in this case the concentration CO in air it is necessary to reduce by 1.5 times.

Nitrogen oxides (NO, N2O3, NO5, N2O4) are mainly released into the atmosphere by nitrogen dioxide NO2, a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas that irritates the respiratory system. Nitrogen oxides are especially dangerous in cities, where they interact with carbon dioxide in exhaust gases, where they form photochemical fog - smog. The air poisoned by nitrogen oxides begins to act with a slight cough. When NO concentration increases, severe coughing, vomiting, and sometimes headache occur. When in contact with the moist surface of the mucous membrane, nitrogen oxides form acids HNO3 and HNO2, which lead to pulmonary edema.

SO2 is a colorless gas with a pungent odor; even in low concentrations (20-30 mg/m3) it creates an unpleasant taste in the mouth and irritates the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract.

Carbohydrates (vapors of gasoline, methane, etc.).
It has a narcotic effect, in small concentrations it causes headaches, dizziness, etc. Thus, when inhaling gasoline vapors at a concentration of 600 mg/m3 for 8 hours, headaches, coughs, and discomfort in the throat occur.

Aldehydes.
With prolonged exposure to humans, aldehydes cause irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract, and with increasing concentrations, headache, weakness, loss of appetite, and insomnia are noted.

Lead compounds. Approximately 50% of lead compounds enter the body through the respiratory system. Under the influence of lead, hemoglobin synthesis is disrupted, causing diseases of the respiratory tract, genitourinary organs, and nervous system. Lead compounds are especially dangerous for preschool children. In large cities, the lead content in the atmosphere reaches 5-38 mg/m3, which is 10,000 times higher than the natural background.

The dispersed composition of dust and mists determines their ability to penetrate the human body. Particularly dangerous are toxic fine dusts with a particle size of 0.5-10 microns, which easily penetrate the respiratory system.

Waste containing mineral pollution is mainly localized near the coast, only some of it is carried far beyond the territorial waters. Water pollution with mercury is especially dangerous, since contamination of marine organisms can cause poisoning of people.

The formation of acid rain is associated with the entry of sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the humid atmosphere. Stationary sources (thermal power plants, etc.) pose a particular danger. Acid rain reduces soil fertility and worsens public health.

Among the variety of chemicals and physical factors entering the environment, the most dangerous are

Carcinogens – substances or factors that can cause the development of malignant tumors in living organisms. Carcinogens are not removed from the body.

Carcinogenic physical factors include X-rays, radioactive isotopes and other types of radioactive contamination of the environment, as well as ultraviolet rays.

High levels of carcinogenic physical factors can, as a rule, manifest themselves in areas adjacent to emergency nuclear power facilities.

The consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation on humans are given, depending on the equivalent dose. Low doses of radiation can lead to cancer, which usually appears many years after exposure. Damage caused by high doses of radiation takes several hours or days to appear.

An important factor is the destruction of the ozone layer.

It is believed that already in 1973, 1% of the ozone layer was destroyed by freons, by 2000 3% will be destroyed, and by 2050 – 10%.

The destruction of the ozone layer is especially significant over the Earth's poles and in the flight zones of spacecraft and supersonic aircraft.

Nuclear explosions in the atmosphere are especially dangerous for the ozone layer, since chlorine and nitrogen oxides enter it. A nuclear war could deplete the ozone layer by 20% or more. A reduction in O3 concentration in the ozone layer will lead to widespread skin cancer in humans, a slowdown in photosynthesis and the death of some plant species.

Thus, the destruction of the ozone layer will lead to the destruction of all life on Earth.

Smoking causes enormous harm to health. A smoker not only inhales harmful substances, but also pollutes the atmosphere and puts other people at risk. It has been established that people who are in the same room with a smoker inhale even more harmful substances than the smoker himself.

Over the past decades, in many regions of the Earth, the external environment in terms of toxic and radiation aggressiveness has become different from the one in which the evolution of the organic world took place. Essentially, it’s as if we moved to another, more cruel planet, only externally similar to Earth, where our body was formed over millions of years. The body's adaptation systems turned out to be defenseless against new types of biological aggression. The tragedy of ecology has grown into the tragedy of endoecology (the prefix “endo” means “inside the body”).

Pollution of the external environment has led to pollution of the internal environment. Not only is people’s health catastrophically deteriorating: previously unknown diseases have appeared, many diseases have become more difficult to cure than before, chronic environmentally caused intoxication is disrupting our psyche.

Over the past 4 years, the birth rate in Russia has fallen by 30%, and the mortality rate has increased by 15%. By the age of 7, 23% of children remain healthy, and by the age of 17 – only 14%. Half of the young men of conscription age are unfit for military service due to health reasons. Since the 70s, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cancer has increased by 50%. Children under the age of one year die in Russia 2 times more often than in the United States. Our men live on average 7-10 years less than in developed countries. In some regions, more than half of the child population suffers from allergic diseases. Many more similar, and for some regions even more acute, facts could be cited. The basis of all this is contamination of the body with toxic substances and disruption of the endoecological balance.

Environmental toxic aggression represents a special type of pathology. Having penetrated the body, environmental poisons do not linger in the blood, but are largely concentrated in the intercellular substance. The resulting disorders are associated with long-term, simultaneous accumulation of dozens of toxic substances in relatively low concentrations. This predetermines the unique distribution of poisons and their biotransformation. A combination effect is characteristic, characterized by mutual potentiation and distortion of the action of toxins. The clinical picture also goes beyond the usual ideas about the disease.

Foci of “endoecological disease” are emerging as a kind of epidemic. Its manifestations depend on the local characteristics of industry and agriculture, natural conditions and other factors. However, people still do not understand the true reasons for their illness and usually explain it by overwork, family or work troubles, financial difficulties, social and everyday reasons.

Hoping for a quick normalization of nature and social conditions is naive self-deception. This requires enormous effort and colossal funds. Even if this kind of activity will be carried out much more intensively than before, our and at least the next generation will be forced to exist in a toxic environment. Nature is dying from pollution, and so are we.

In order to maintain health and survive in the current conditions of environmental and socio-economic disadvantage, it is necessary to periodically cleanse the body - to reduce the level of toxic substances accumulating in it to relatively safe limits. Widely known medicinal herbs help remove poisons from the body: black currant (leaves, preferably young ones), marigold and others.

But before you take care of your health, you must first take care of the environment.

2 INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON HUMAN HEALTH

The health of humans and entire population groups depends on the influence of various subsystems of the natural and social environment.

Therefore, the organization of an information system “population health - environment” (PH - OS) is of great importance, data for which can be collected through state statistical reporting. The task of the state information system ZN - OS is to collect data on environmental pollution and the state of public health.

Profound changes in the biosphere are occurring more rapidly than the rate of evolution of living organisms. Therefore, an imbalance may arise in the mechanism of interaction between the environment and the body, which has been established over thousands of years and is associated with the nature and level of the latter’s protective functions.

Aggressive environmental factors damage chromosomes and cause mutations in genes, distorting hereditary information, as a result of which “sick” cells begin to divide uncontrollably. At the same time, cancer cells are not destroyed by the immune system, which has previously been weakened by the same negative environmental factors.

a) Allergy to the environment. MSC syndrome refers to a complex of different manifestations and symptoms of diseases that arise as a result of joint exposure to harmful substances at subthreshold concentrations.

One of these substances in small quantities does not yet have a harmful effect. However, in sum, their actions are so intensified that problems of a variety of diseases can arise. However, individual sensitivity and predisposition may vary.

Diseases arising in this regard affect the digestive tract, the central nervous system and cause local irritation.

The main thing here is that the influence of minimal quantities of a harmful substance, which is not capable of causing disease alone, is combined with the influence of other harmful substances. As a result, the threshold beyond which the disease occurs is exceeded. The height of this threshold, as already indicated, varies from person to person.

In response to an infection, the body sometimes develops another reaction that is opposite to the immune system, the so-called allergic reaction. Substances that cause such a reaction are called allergens. Various allergens cause increased sensitivity - sensitization - of the body to their repeated introduction.

b) Functional disorders of the circulatory system. In case of unfavorable factors affecting the human vascular system: magnetic storms, climate change, etc. – pathological (painful) changes occur in the structure and vascular system of the human body. Particularly common diseases are atherosclerosis, which, like rust, corrodes blood vessels and impairs their function.

B) Hypertension. Arterial hypertension is called increased blood pressure (hypertension) compared to generally accepted norms. Hypertension usually means increased tone of blood vessels, which is determined by increased pressure throughout the arterial system.

Hypertension is a primary independent disease characterized by increased blood pressure. The so-called symptomatic hypertension should be distinguished from hypertensive hypertension, when hypertension is only a symptom of some other disease, for example, kidney inflammation, etc.

The occurrence of hypertension is explained by prolonged mental stress or mental shock. Hypertension most often occurs in people with increased reactivity of the central nervous system, and is more common among the urban population than among the rural population, whose work is associated with constant neuropsychic stress. Therefore, hypertension is more common among people with mental work.

Soviet scientists academician K.M. Bykov and Professor G.F. Lang based on the teachings of I.P. Pavlova proved that various severe mental illnesses cause irritation of higher nerve centers - the cerebral cortex, which are transmitted through the autonomic centers of the brain to the sympathetic nervous system, causing an increase in the tone of small arteries, which leads to a narrowing of their lumen.

These diseases, in particular, make us doubt our unlimited power over technology, the complexity and power of which is increasing day by day. Every day television shows us colliding trains and tankers, overturned sea ferries, car and plane crashes, burning hotels and cinemas, exploding gas storage tanks, etc. all this is usually viewed by our press as a natural consequence of sloppiness and irresponsibility. However, it is not the case. In fact, we are observing multiple syndromes of a new disease of civilization: a person ceases to cope with overly complicated technical means. And people don’t want to remember the three million years during which man, using a sharpened stick, perfectly learned to control his muscular reactions to familiar external stimuli. And to correlate this experience with the fact that just a hundred years ago there were no supersonic, turboprop and turbojet giants, nuclear icebreakers, high-speed express trains, and that only thirty years ago we used the word “satellite” only for the person accompanying us.

d) Lung cancer. Lung cancer develops from irritants of the respiratory tract and lung tissue, coal and other dust, gasoline vapors and other gases. It is more common among city dwellers and workers in “dusty” professions. Primary lung cancer is most often bronchial and develops from the epithelial lining of the bronchi. In addition to primary, it is necessary to note secondary, metastatic, lung cancer, which develops as a result of the introduction of cancer cells into the lungs from other organs primarily affected by cancer.

According to WHO, human health is largely (up to 30%) determined by the state of the environment. An increase in chemical load, which exceeds the limits of the body's adaptive capabilities in intensity, is one of the main reasons for the increase in both general morbidity and specific, chemically caused ones.

Corrections of the health status and morbidity of high-risk groups (children, pregnant and lactating women) with the levels of taxicants in the biosphere have been identified. These substances are supertoxicants that affect all living things. It is known that the marker agent of this group 2,3,7,8 – tetrachlor-p-dioxin (TCDD) is 67 thousand times more toxic than potassium cyanide and 500 times more poisonous than strychnine. Dioxins are found everywhere - in the air, soil, bottom sediments, fish. Dioxins are resistant to chemical and biological attack. It is known that Dioxins are formed where chlorine is used. Dioxins in the full sense of the word are a product of civilization. Today in Russia the problem of dioxin contamination is most acute. Existing information indicates a catastrophic situation in this area. Neither the population, nor environmental authorities, nor administrations understand the real scale of the dioxin danger.

There is also another problem that needs to be discussed. The human brain is undoubtedly an amazingly fast-acting machine, but it is also prone to failure. Highly qualified professionals begin to respond to the fair demands of modern technology with nervous breakdowns and spontaneous attacks of fear - stress warning lights flash in the human brain. The powerful inertia of scientific and technological progress has collided with the no less inertia of our evolutionary conservatism. The time has come to thoroughly think through the problem of environmental technology and develop a scientifically based strategy for its further development. This is also necessary because the capabilities of modern technology make our relationship with nature difficult to bear.

It is quite difficult psychologically to understand that the earth we walk on may become completely barren tomorrow. The experience of civilizations inspires us with hope almost at the genetic level: humanity, they say, has always found a way out of any situation. However, in the current branch, development at the existing pace of mining, large-scale development of territories, we continue to have problems that fall like an avalanche on us, capturing new territories and giving rise to new problems.

Congenital diseases, when various pathological processes occur in the fetus, should be distinguished from hereditary diseases. For example, under certain unfavorable conditions, the fetus develops incorrectly, which leads to congenital deformities (congenital heart defects, clubfoot, etc.).

Through the placenta, certain microorganisms, as well as various substances and poisons (dirty air, alcohol) penetrate into the fetus from the mother and cause corresponding diseases in him.

Methods of therapeutic and preventive detoxification have been proposed and tested. Coordination of all work on examination and detoxification of high-risk groups is carried out by Russia’s first consultative and diagnostic clinic of the Institute of Toxicology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. This makes it possible to objectively assess the contribution of the chemical load to the morbidity of the population and effectively carry out treatment and preventive measures.

CONCLUSION

Humanity is a great geological force, gifted with self-awareness. Until now, the human mind has served primarily as a means of exercising dominance over “blind natural forces.” Reason, will, organization, mutual assistance - all these qualities have long determined the special position of man on Earth, who could withstand any natural disasters. Man has created a wonderful technology, against which earthly nature is powerless, and from an all-planetary factor has become a cosmic factor, extending its influence to the near-Earth space and some planets.

And now, when “man has become a giant,” he more and more clearly realizes the wisdom of the truth once expressed by F. Bacon: “To conquer nature, you must obey it.”

In the middle of our century, humanity began to gradually change its strategy towards nature. The alternative - domination or submission - had to be abandoned. Cooperation with nature, its worldwide protection!

But here the eternal problem of the contradiction between dreams and reality arises. Good wishes must be realized, but not all creations of beautiful human imagination can be brought to life. In relations with nature, man has always been guided by lush paradises - this did not prevent him from creating man-made deserts.

Two decades ago, it seemed that technical systems "...soon would constitute an artificial Nature - much more complex and at the same time much more flexible and obedient to the creative genius of mankind than Mother Nature ever was." This is what the English physicist D. Bernal wrote. Now such ideas look hopelessly outdated. Artificial nature, as it turned out, cannot compete with Mother Nature in either complexity, flexibility, or beauty.

... The most intricate modern physical device, the most “smart” cybernetic machine, is much simpler than an ordinary green leaf of a tree, a butterfly or a jellyfish. The better we understand the internal biochemical life of organisms and the extraordinary complexity of the relationships of individuals, species among themselves and with the environment, the more we admire the harmony of natural processes and the more clearly we understand the difficulties associated with their restructuring. We begin to comprehend the implicit wisdom of Nature, which ideally adapted natural landscapes to certain physical zones of the earth's surface. This art is difficult for us. We do not have the thousands of years that nature has in stock. We are forced to look for new, unknown natural solutions, create new landscapes, monitor their development and direct it, note the patterns of evolution in order to make reasonable predictions for the near and distant future.

Understanding the past is an essential component of predicting the future.

… The unity of nature and man must correspond to the unity of knowledge about nature and man. Only generalized knowledge, which includes, along with the natural sciences, ethics and aesthetics, will help rebuild nature according to the laws of both benefit and beauty.

But no matter how great our knowledge, we should remember ignorance. It is they who determine the harmful undesirable consequences of human activity. The successes of science do not save us from ignorance of many, many aspects of the life of nature, society, and ourselves. Therefore, without relying entirely on knowledge alone - the great power of the scientific and technological age, we have to take into account its limitations, know how to doubt, strive for beauty, trust nature...

The health of humans and entire groups of the population depends on the influence of various subsystems of the natural and social environment, realized through physiological, biophysiological and biochemical regulatory mechanisms and affecting the physiological state of a person (Fig. 1).[...]

The increasing pace of change in the environment leads to a disruption in the relationship between it and humans and a decrease in the adaptive capabilities of the body. The habitat may contain substances that the organism has not encountered during evolution and therefore does not have the appropriate analyzer systems signaling their presence. In this regard, it is impossible to assess the state of human health and understand the nature of the pathology in isolation from the analysis of ongoing changes in the environment.[...]

Currently, the protection of the genetic code from the effects of various environmental factors is becoming important. Profound changes in the biosphere are occurring more rapidly than the rate of evolution of living organisms. Therefore, an imbalance may arise in the mechanism of relationships between the environment and the organism, which has been established over thousands of years and is associated with the nature and level of the latter’s protective functions.[...]

Given the huge variety of mutation types and the presence of many types of malignant tumors, it is difficult to find therapeutic agents against all their forms. The main efforts of mankind should be aimed at eliminating the causes that cause them.[...]

Maximum permissible environmental loads (MPEL). To assess the admissibility of the impact of various factors on the natural environment, it is very important to determine the permissible threshold of harmful effects and take into account the dose-response relationship. The threshold of permissible impact on a biological system should not be understood as any changes in ecosystems, but only those that can take the historically established complex of living organisms living in a given territory (biota) beyond the limits of normal physiological fluctuations.[...]

The concept of “permissible impacts and loads” on the environment is quite complex. Any anomaly in an ecological system resulting from any impact that takes it out of its normal state is defined as an environmental load. Such impacts can be considered acceptable if they do not lead to a change in the quality of the natural environment or change it without disturbing the ecological system and without causing adverse consequences. If the load exceeds the permissible level, anthropogenic impact causes damage to the population, ecosystem or biosphere as a whole.[...]

Atmospheric air is a natural mixture of gases in the surface layer of the atmosphere outside residential, industrial and other premises, which developed during the evolution of the Earth.[...]

The first scientific work that summarizes ideas about the atmosphere belongs to Aristotle, who suggested that the Earth has the shape of a ball and therefore the air shell surrounding it should be spherical. This is expressed by the word “atmosphere” (in Greek “atmos” means steam, breath, and “sphere” means ball). This word was introduced into Russian science by M.V. Lomonosov.[...]

Apparently, at first, the atmosphere of our planet consisted of volatile substances formed in the bowels of the earth: hydrogen, water, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia. Free nitrogen released as a result of volcanic activity was converted into ammonia. The conditions for this were the most suitable: excess hydrogen, elevated temperatures - the Earth’s surface had not yet cooled down.[...]

Drawings for this chapter:

The man made a huge mistake
when he decided he could separate himself
from nature and not to take into account its laws...
Vernadsky V.I.

The term “human ecology” was first used in 1921. American scientists Burgess and Park used it in their sociological studies. This concept became extremely relevant in the shortest possible time, as the population of our planet began to attach increasing importance to the quality of their habitat and worry about their health. From year to year, people sought to discover the relationship between the state of nature and the processes occurring in the human body, as well as to understand its true needs.

Today, human ecology is a generally recognized comprehensive science that studies the interaction of people as social beings with the outside world. It considers issues of population development, improving the physical and mental capabilities of citizens, and assesses their natural needs.

Human ecology systematizes knowledge about:

environmental aspects of the emergence of human races, the formation of man as a biological species;
features of interaction between people and the environment;
environmental factors that determine demographic processes;
environmental aspects of the spread of a particular disease;
the influence on human nature of changes made by him in the environment;
mechanisms for the formation of adaptation to the indicated changes.

The science of “human ecology” studies a certain community of people - professional, ethnic or age - which is characterized by a certain level of education, health, and culture. In the process of observing a selected group, specialists evaluate its contacts with society, natural, social and production factors, its needs, impact on the environment, the changes and problems that it introduces and under the influence of which it itself finds itself.

The main tasks of human ecology boil down to:

revealing the scale of human influence on nature, assessing the consequences of this impact on society, the environment and human diseases;
forecasting possible changes in people's health under the influence of changes in the external environment and developing life support systems adequate to the situation;
creating an environmentally friendly, healthy, socially comfortable and safe living environment on the planet that meets human needs;
providing society with information that contributes to maintaining the optimal existence of people in nature, taking into account all social and biological aspects.

The influence of ecology on human health

Human ecology pays great attention to the study of the influence of the environment on people’s well-being. This science considers “health” to be the main concept of all theories and practices introduced to the masses. To assess this indicator, scientists usually study statistics demonstrating indicators:

fertility;
mortality;
average life expectancy;
human population growth;
age-sex structure of the population;
physical development of people;
morbidity and disability.

Using modern methods of eco-epidemiology, scientists have been able to prove the connection between human ecological health and the state of the environment. Children turned out to be especially sensitive to external natural factors. Despite the fact that everyone knows about the role of air and water in human life, finding places on Earth today where they are not polluted is a real problem.

A good ecological state of the environment has a positive effect on human health. Moreover, being in nature can improve mood, emotional state, and reduce the manifestations of chronic disease.

Nevertheless, neglecting these simple truths and ignoring the rules that human ecology prescribes, people develop various industries, striving for comfort and satisfying the ever-new needs of society, build houses to the detriment of green spaces and purchase cars. As a result, anthropogenic loads exceed established standards by several times. An unfavorable environment provokes environmental diseases in humans. Harmful substances contained in the atmosphere affect the body upon contact with mucous membranes or skin. Pollutants can damage the organs of vision, accumulate in tissues, bones, lymph nodes, cause spasms of the vocal cords, diseases and problems such as bronchitis and asthma.

Modern environmental situation

Every day the situation is getting worse, the atmosphere is becoming polluted, and the planets in general and each person in particular are growing like a snowball. First of all, industry and the growth in the number of vehicles contribute to this development. Hazardous substances enter the air, including manganese, selenium, xylene, arsenic, asbestos, and styrene. Then the problem gets worse - they end up in people's bodies. Moreover, modern science has proven that water, which is so necessary for maintaining life, has now become the root cause of more than half of known diseases. In order to protect yourself at least a little from exposure to harmful substances and to understand the seriousness of the problem, it is necessary to study the basics of human ecology.

Water, soil and air contaminated with toxic elements can cause in people:

aggression;
genetic changes;
decreased immunity;
infertility;
diseases of internal organs.

The critical situation in the environment is a big problem for modern people, requiring immediate emergency measures. Unfortunately, truly effective solutions to the issue have either not been developed or are not being fully implemented. The main problems of modern society, according to human ecology, are:

pollution of the natural environment by waste from industrial and rural activities;
climate warming and rising sea levels;
ozone holes;
acid precipitation;
epidemics and incurable diseases;
deterioration of the health of society as a whole;
needs for continuous economic development;
high rate of decline in biological diversity and deforestation;
needs for hunting wild animals;
loss of entire ecosystems,
mining needs.

Human environmental needs today primarily include clean air and water, natural and healthy products, and preservation of the natural environment. In addition, it is extremely important to understand the nature of the ecocrisis, mistakes in interaction with the outside world, and the need to correct the economy and politics.

Humanity's refusal to recognize the root causes of the problem, its omissions and inflated needs for natural resources dooms the world to an irreversible catastrophe and complete destruction of the biosphere.

Accordingly, it is imperative to look for ways to restore the environment. And for this today a number of measures are being taken. First of all, society strives to abandon the consumer-technocratic approach to the world around us in favor of harmony with it. For this purpose, in particular, environmentally friendly and waste-free closed-cycle technologies are increasingly being developed and applied in industry, and new products are being tested. In addition, in order to maintain their health and the environmental situation at a decent level, people try to introduce reasonable self-restraint in the consumption of various natural resources. Human ecology considers these measures the most important to achieve the desired result.

However, any most effective solutions can produce a tangible effect only if all states unite the forces to save nature. Fortunately, countries came to understand the importance of collective action more than a hundred years ago. The first attempt at such an international association took place in 1913 in Switzerland. Then the first world meeting on the topic “Human Ecology and Health” was held, in which representatives of 18 states took part.

Today, forms of cooperation between countries have reached a qualitatively new level. International conventions on environmental protection are systematically concluded, bans on whaling, fishing quotas, etc. are introduced, and various joint developments are carried out on environmental issues. Representatives of public environmental protection organizations have also become noticeably more active, calling on society to understand the dangers of irresponsible use of natural resources and to realize their true needs. The science of “human ecology” pursues the same goal. Studying this discipline is one of the ways to form a special consciousness in people, their understanding of nature as a kind of living being, over which it is impossible to rule with impunity. All this gives hope for a successful resolution of the problem and stabilization of the environmental situation.

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Moscow Aviation Institute

(national research university)

Institute of Engineering and Economics

On ecology

on the topic: “The influence of the environment on human health”

Performed:

2nd year student, 508 department:

Khalmuradova Alena

Moscow 2013

Introduction

Conclusion

Introduction

“The influence of the environment on human health”, this topic is relevant today, since human health is above all. Ecology is a very serious and meaningful concept. In our time, this concept has become on the same level as the concept of “life”. For many years we have been saying that man is the master of nature, but it is this master who often leaves behind barren, lifeless spaces. For us, nature is life itself. That is why the rock cries, the stone has a heart, and it beats like a person’s; That’s why we listen to the whisper of the sea tide, the breath of forest plants, the cheerful talk of the stream. Everything breathes, everything lives.

The most harmful impact on nature and humans is caused by emissions of solid substances into the atmosphere. There are three main sources of air pollution: industry, domestic boiler houses, and vehicles.

River pollution poses a great danger, since rivers are a source of drinking water. In some areas of the planet today there is already a shortage of fresh water (Crimea, Central Asia and others).

“For centuries, man has sought not to adapt to the natural environment, but to make it convenient for his existence.”

Over the past millennia, civilization and technology have made a noticeable leap in their development. The appearance of human settlements has changed, the languages of antiquity have sunk into oblivion, and the very appearance of “homo sapiens” has changed beyond recognition. But one thing in human life has remained unchanged: everything that civilization is able to collect in its barns, store behind high fences of special bases, shove on the shelves of home cabinets and refrigerators - all this is taken from the environment. And the entire rhythm of human life, both in past eras and today, was determined by one thing - the possibility of access to certain natural resources.

Over the years of such coexistence with nature, natural resource reserves have noticeably decreased. True, nature itself took care to provide man, the eternal dependent, with an almost inexhaustible resource base.

Protecting soils from humans is the most important task of humans, since any harmful substances found in the soil will sooner or later end up in the human body.

Atmospheric air pollution is sometimes the work of man himself, since it is known that air pollution occurs mainly as a result of industry, transport, etc., which together emit more than a billion solid and gaseous particles annually.

1. Ecology and human health

Currently, about 60 million people in the world breathe air containing impurities harmful to human health, and almost half of the population drinks water that does not meet hygienic requirements.

The consequence of atmospheric contamination is a decrease in human immune defense, an increase in the number of viral and bacterial infections, as well as chronic respiratory diseases. With contaminated water, radionuclides and heavy metals, poisons, toxins and viral infections enter the body, which also leads to deterioration of human health and various diseases.

A person who is in the “third state” (between health and illness) reacts quite sensitively to changing weather conditions.

When the weather changes (which is usually accompanied by a change in atmospheric pressure), he may experience lethargy, drowsiness, decreased performance, headaches, etc. During this period, the number of exacerbations of chronic diseases increases sharply.

The pathological dependence of health on weather conditions is called meteopathy.

On a smaller scale, changes in well-being are also observed with the change of seasons. The critical period is spring. During the period of the so-called biological spring, the consistency of the biorhythms of various organs and systems is disrupted. This is due to the fact that in April-June there is a transition from the minimum level of general activity (biological winter) to the maximum (biological summer).

Due to the increased excitability of various body systems, its inflammatory and allergic reactions intensify.

River pollution poses a great danger, since rivers are a source of drinking water. Today we have established maximum permissible concentrations in reservoir water for almost 400 harmful substances, in atmospheric air - for 120 harmful substances and for 25 of their combinations. This is a huge job. Similar work has not been carried out in any country in the world. In some areas of the planet today there is already a shortage of fresh water (Crimea, Central Asia and others).

The “oil scourge” poses a particular danger to the seas and oceans. Of the 2.2 billion tons of oil produced annually, a significant portion (one and a half billion tons) is transported to its destination by ship. Offshore oil production is 440 million tons. In 1970, for example, 5 - 10 million tons leaked into the sea as a result of ship accidents, tanker tank cleanings, the release of bilge water from 45 thousand floating seagoing vessels, and also due to accidents during seabed drilling.

1.1 Chemical pollution of the environment and human health

All environmental pollutants can be divided into two groups - physical and chemical. Physical pollutants include radioactive radiation, noise, vibration, and electromagnetic energy. Chemical pollutants are of inorganic and organic nature - salts of heavy metals, acids, nitrates and nitrites, phenols, pesticides, detergents and many others.

The body's reaction to pollution depends on individual characteristics: age, gender, health status. Typically, the most vulnerable are children, the elderly and the sick.

Accumulating in the body, chemical pollutants cause various disturbances: changes in the activity of enzymatic systems that regulate metabolic processes, disruption of the normal functioning of individual organs and their systems.

Systematic or periodic intake of relatively small amounts of toxic substances into the body causes chronic poisoning. Signs of chronic poisoning are disruption of normal behavior and habits. As well as the appearance of neuropsychological abnormalities and rapid fatigue or a feeling of constant fatigue, drowsiness or, conversely, insomnia, apathy, weakening of attention, absent-mindedness, severe mood swings.

Biologically highly active chemical compounds can cause long-term effects on human health: chronic inflammatory processes in various organs, changes in the nervous system, abnormalities in intrauterine development of the fetus, which leads to various pathologies in newborns.

In new conditions, new forms of pathogens appear that are more adapted to them. The rate of reproduction of microorganisms changes. Their evolution is also caused by changes in the susceptibility and stability of man himself. Inhibition of immunobiological functions, allergization and, as a result, changes in the body's reaction are the result of certain negative environmental influences.

As a result of pollution, new, previously unknown diseases caused by chemicals appear. Their causes are sometimes quite difficult to establish (Yusho disease, berylliosis, etc.)

The main atmospheric pollutants today are carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. But, of course, we must not forget about freons, or chlorofluorocarbons. Most scientists consider them to be the cause of the formation of so-called ozone holes in the atmosphere. Freons are widely used in production and in everyday life as refrigerants, foaming agents, solvents, and also in aerosol packaging. Namely, doctors associate an increase in the number of skin cancers with a decrease in ozone content in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

It is known that atmospheric ozone is formed as a result of complex photochemical reactions under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Although its content is small, its importance for the biosphere is enormous. Ozone, by absorbing ultraviolet radiation, protects all life on earth from death. Freons, when entering the atmosphere, under the influence of solar radiation, decompose into a number of compounds, of which chlorine oxide most intensively destroys ozone.

1.2 Biological pollution and human disease

Biological pollution is an increase in the number of pathogens, viruses, helminths, protozoa in the environment, most often in the atmosphere, water, soil, and they can also be found in the body of living organisms. When biological pollutants enter the human body, they cause various infectious diseases.

Thus, pathogens of tetanus, botulism, gas gangrene, and some fungal diseases often live in the soil. Their main sources are warm-blooded animals, in whose digestive canal these microorganisms live. Once in the soil, these pathogens remain there for a long time, preserving their pathogenic properties. They can enter the human body if the skin is damaged, with unwashed food, or if the rules of hygiene and the technology of preserving certain products (especially mushrooms) are violated. From the soil, pathogenic microorganisms can penetrate into groundwater, and with water into the human body. Therefore, water from artesian wells, wells, and springs must be boiled before drinking.

Biological pollution causes various diseases in humans. These are pathogenic microorganisms, viruses. They can be found in the atmosphere, water, soil, and in the body of other living organisms, including the person himself. The most dangerous pathogens are infectious diseases. They have different stability in the environment. Some are able to live outside the human body for only a few hours; being in the air, in water, on various objects, they quickly die. Others can live in the environment from a few days to several years. For others, the environment is their natural habitat. For others, other organisms, such as wild animals or humans, are a place of conservation and reproduction. The main sources of biological pollution are wastewater from almost all types of industrial production, agriculture, municipal services of cities and towns, household and industrial landfills, cemeteries, etc.

Open water sources are especially contaminated: rivers, lakes, ponds, where pathogens of cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, hepatitis A, leptospirosis, etc. can be found.

It was with the aquatic environment that large epidemics of contagious intestinal infections were associated (for example, the cholera epidemic in Nikolaev, Odessa, etc.). The main sources of microbial contamination of water are human and animal feces and sewage, which are not always properly treated.

The air (both atmospheric and indoor air) is often polluted by pathogens of influenza, diphtheria, all childhood infections (whooping cough, mumps, measles, etc.), tuberculosis, meningitis, etc. These microorganisms enter the air when coughing, sneezing, and even when talking sick people, as well as from soil, contaminated streets, reservoirs, etc. Infection of healthy people occurs through the respiratory tract when inhaling infected air (airborne transmission mechanism). About 1 billion microbes enter the human body per day.

It has long been known that many microorganisms adapt to the action of drugs and form forms that are no longer afraid of, for example, penicillin. But once upon a time this antibiotic was considered universal against colds. Scientists do not have time, one might say, to develop new types of drugs against bacterial environmental pollutants. An example of mutations is bird flu.

Influenza is an insidious disease in itself, it has terrible consequences and any human organ can be subjected to the destructive influence of these consequences, and the bird flu virus has already claimed more than a dozen lives in different countries. It most likely arose due to environmental pollution: chemicals and radiation affect microorganisms so that they form new pathogenic forms unknown to humans.

Man, invading nature, often violates the natural conditions for the existence of pathogenic organisms and becomes a victim of natural focal diseases.

A feature of natural focal diseases is that their pathogens exist in nature within a certain territory without connection with people or domestic animals.

You should know that many nutrients (especially vegetables and fruits) have a powerful antimicrobial effect against most microorganisms, stimulate the body's immunological reactions, inactivate endo- and exotoxins and should be used in everyday life in the prevention and treatment of most infectious diseases.

1.3 Nutrition and human health

As you know, food is a source of energy that is necessary for the normal functioning of the entire human body. Therefore, it is very important that the amount of energy spent per day be replenished. If a person expends more energy than he receives, his body weight decreases. In a situation where fewer calories are spent than comes from food, a person rapidly gains excess weight. Both have negative effects on health.

Please note that we are talking about a healthy person with normal body weight. To avoid an uneven ratio of calorie intake and energy expenditure, you should correctly plan your diet.

Many of us are accustomed to assessing the quality of food in terms of taste, smell and visual appeal. Unfortunately, this does not take into account the presence of nutrients in food, the ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

A balanced diet allows you to avoid such mistakes. Due to the correct approach to food preparation, the number of diseases is significantly reduced. The body recovers more easily from illnesses.

All life processes in the human body are highly dependent on what his diet consists of from the first days of life, as well as on the diet. Every living organism in the process of life continuously consumes the substances included in its composition.

Human nutrition and health depend on how balanced the daily diet is. The body must receive all the nutritional components it needs - protein, carbohydrate, fatty foods, and must also contain sufficient minerals and vitamins in the diet. This will allow the body to correctly carry out biochemical reactions, synthesize hormones, produce the necessary energy, and build new cells.

The connection between nutrition and health was noted in ancient times. People have seen that due to improper nutrition, children grow and develop poorly, adults get sick, get tired quickly, work poorly and die.

In the 17th century, Admiral of the English fleet George Anson did not lose a single soldier in battles with the Spanish flotilla, and 800 out of 1000 people died from scurvy that broke out on ships. The lack of vitamins in food turned out to be stronger and more dangerous than the weapons of enemies.

After refined foods (sugar, flour, canned food) were brought to the Aleutian Islands in 1912, dental caries quickly spread among children and already in 1924, almost the entire young population of the Aleutians who consumed the new imported food suffered from caries (from research E. Nuron). History is replete with similar cases. Observations show the dependence of the occurrence of ulcers, tumors and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and other body systems on the quality of food and the lack of vitamin complexes in it. At the same time, we can give examples of an inverse relationship, when with improved nutrition the morbidity rate of the population significantly decreased.

The main nutritional disorders observed in different age and occupational groups are usually the same. This is, first of all, an excess of carbohydrates and fats of animal origin in food and a deficiency of vegetables, fruits and berries, as well as the most terrible consequence of a change in the rhythm of life - a violation of the diet.

Each of these disorders, even taken separately, can affect a person’s health. I will try to analyze each of these violations.

With an excess of carbohydrates, especially pure sugars, physiologically, water retention occurs in the body, swelling and posture are noted, the consumption of vitamin B1 increases and, as a result, B1 deficiency leads to disruption of the central nervous system. Unoxidized products appear in the body, the level of pyruvic acid increases, and therefore an increase in the acidotic state of the whole organism. Increased cholesterol biosynthesis with increased fat formation (there is a risk of atherosclerosis and obesity). The body's protective properties decrease, and the risk of cancer and diabetes increases due to impaired functioning of the pancreas. Don't forget caries.

As for the excess of animal fats and the deficiency of fats of plant origin, there are no particular difficulties in avoiding this dietary disorder. It is only necessary to inform the population about the need to introduce 20-30 grams of vegetable fats into the diet daily, instead of 5-10, since by excluding vegetable fats from the diet, humanity deprives itself of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially linoleic and linolenic acids, which very important for the activity of the heart muscle, liver cells, brain and gonads. They are the building material of cell membranes, connective tissue, myelin and are part of nucleic acids. PUFAs increase the removal of cholesterol from the body and increase the elasticity of blood vessels. Also, maintaining a certain required level of the immune system, protects the body from radiation. With a lack of PUFAs, cholesterol combines with saturated fatty acids to be deposited in the walls of blood vessels and, as a result, the incidence of thrombosis and tumors increases and stomach ulcers may appear.

A deficiency of vegetables, fruits, and berries is more serious and difficult to eliminate. Studies of nutrition and food itself conducted by various authors in different countries of the world have shown that the consumption of vegetables leaves much to be desired.

Their significance is enormous. They are a supplier of carbohydrates, vitamins and microelements, organic acids and pectin substances. Vegetables and fruits increase appetite and promote the absorption of other foods, remove toxins, have bactericidal properties, normalize the activity of the central nervous system, PNS and gastrointestinal tract, increase human performance, have organoleptic properties, giving the food consumed a different taste. Vegetables make your diet more tasty and healthy. Vegetables, fruits and berries occupy an honorable place in dietary and therapeutic nutrition. Some of them enhance lactation and affect the quality of breast milk. According to the Institute of Nutrition of the Academy of Medical Sciences, on average, 500-700 grams of these products are needed per person per day. Moreover, it should contain at least 10-15 items.

We have to admit that attempts to replace vegetables with other products and artificial additives have not been successful.

People have known about the beneficial effects of vegetables since ancient times. Hippocrates treated nervous disorders with celery. The founder of herbal medicine, Ambrodik-Maksimovich, wrote in 1785 that the best food is prepared from plants. Currently, the importance of vegetables, fruits and berry crops is confirmed by scientific data.

Many people are concerned about the question: can we influence life expectancy with the help of nutrition? Practice gives a positive answer. The Bible describes the patriarch Methuselah, who lived to be 900 years old, that is, he lived 12 - 13 times longer than an ordinary person. Methuselah ate natural products: wild honey and locusts (dried grasshoppers). So, eating natural foods promotes longevity.

You should not eat if you are in an abnormal emotional state.

Fatigue, pain, fear, grief, anxiety, depression, anger, inflammation, fever, etc. lead to the fact that digestive juices cease to be secreted and the normal movement of the digestive tract slows down or stops altogether. Therefore, if you are tired, rest a little before eating. There is nothing better than a little rest or relaxation to restore the vitality of a tired person. Jokes and laugh at the table, as this promotes relaxation and calm. Let peace and joy reign at the table. This should be the main rule in life. After all, at this time you are building your body and health.

1.4 Weather and human well-being

Everything in this world has its own balance and clear relationship; in this case, we will talk about the connection between weather conditions and human well-being.

Medical statistics say that about 75% of people “feel the weather.” This happens if a pre-illness state has already been created in the body, preventing it from adapting to changes. Increased weather sensitivity can also be caused by accumulated fatigue. It just manifests itself in different ways.

In practically healthy people, sudden weather changes cause moderate fluctuations in metabolism, biochemical and physiological parameters. In this case, the state of health, as a rule, is not disturbed. With age or after illness, the body's reserves decrease, and the most sensitive organ begins to “predict the weather” almost like a barometer.

What happens when atmospheric pressure decreases? As atmospheric pressure decreases, air humidity increases, precipitation and an increase in air temperature are possible.

The first to feel a decrease in atmospheric pressure are people with low blood pressure (hypotonics), “heart patients,” as well as people with respiratory diseases.

Most often, there is general weakness, difficulty breathing, a feeling of lack of air, and shortness of breath occurs.

A decrease in atmospheric pressure is especially acutely and painfully felt by people with high intracranial pressure. Their migraine attacks worsen. In the digestive tract, not everything is in order either - discomfort appears in the intestines due to increased gas formation.

What happens when atmospheric pressure increases? When atmospheric pressure rises, the weather becomes clear and does not have sudden changes in humidity and temperature.

With an increase in atmospheric pressure, the health of hypertensive patients, patients suffering from bronchial asthma and allergy sufferers worsens.

When the weather becomes calm, the concentration of harmful industrial impurities in the city air increases, which are an irritating factor for people with respiratory diseases.

Frequent complaints are headaches, malaise, heart pain and decreased general ability to work. An increase in atmospheric pressure negatively affects the emotional background and is often the main cause of sexual disorders.

Another negative characteristic of high atmospheric pressure is decreased immunity. This is explained by the fact that an increase in atmospheric pressure lowers the number of leukocytes in the blood, and the body becomes more vulnerable to various infections.

How do changes in air humidity affect

on a person's well-being? Low air humidity is considered to be 30 - 40%, which means that the air becomes dry and can be irritating to the nasal mucosa.

Allergy sufferers and asthmatics suffer when the air is dry.

What happens to the body when air humidity rises? Increased air humidity is 70 - 90% when the climate is characterized by frequent precipitation. An example of weather with high air humidity can be Russia and Sochi.

High air humidity negatively affects people with respiratory diseases, because at this time the risk of developing hypothermia and colds increases.

Increased air humidity contributes to the exacerbation of chronic diseases of the kidneys, joints and inflammatory diseases of the female genital organs (appendages).

How do changes in air temperature affect a person’s well-being? For the human body, the optimal ambient temperature is 18 degrees; this is the temperature recommended to maintain in the room where you sleep.

Sudden changes in temperature are accompanied by changes in the oxygen content in the atmospheric air, and this significantly depresses a person’s well-being.

A person is a living creature that needs oxygen in order to live and naturally feel good.

When the ambient temperature decreases, the air becomes saturated with oxygen, and when it warms, on the contrary, there is less oxygen in the air and therefore in hot weather it is difficult for us to breathe.

When air temperature rises and atmospheric pressure decreases, people with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases are the first to suffer.

When, on the contrary, the temperature decreases and the atmospheric pressure increases, it is especially difficult for hypertensive patients, asthmatics, people with diseases of the digestive tract and those who suffer from urolithiasis.

With a sharp and significant fluctuation in ambient temperature, by about 10 degrees during the day, a large amount of histamine is produced in the body.

Histamine is a substance that provokes the development of allergic reactions in the body in healthy people, not to mention allergy sufferers.

What are magnetic storms and how do they affect human well-being? Solar flares, eclipses and other geophysical and cosmic factors affect human health.

Have you probably noticed that over the past 15 - 25 years, along with the weather forecast, they talk about magnetic storms and warn about possible exacerbations of diseases in certain categories of people?

Each of us reacts to magnetic storms, but not everyone notices it, much less associates it with a magnetic storm.

According to statistics, it is on the days of magnetic storms that the largest number of ambulance calls occur for hypertensive crises, heart attacks and strokes.

These days, not only the number of hospitalizations in cardiology and neurology departments is increasing, but also the number of deaths due to heart attacks and strokes is growing.

Oddly enough, in the summer the number of people with ARVI does not decrease. This is primarily due to the dryness that occurs in the nasopharynx. In this case, the nasopharynx becomes more susceptible to viruses. But such a development of events can be avoided if you regularly rinse the nasopharynx with still or slightly salted water. It will help to moisturize the mucous membrane by sucking on lollipops, the basis of which is burnt sugar. Antiviral drugs can also be used for prevention, but you need to choose those that have as few side effects as possible.

You definitely need to strengthen your immune system in the summer. You can do this by including a course of vitamin C in your diet. Don’t forget about seasonal vegetables and fruits, which contain almost the entire necessary set of microelements and vitamins. Regular humidification and drinking plenty of fluids will help in the fight against extreme heat.

Of course, it is impossible to change temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure, but you can learn to adapt to them in order to improve your well-being or at least prevent it from worsening.

1.5 The influence of water resources on human life

Water is vital both for humans and for the existence of all living organisms in general. It is needed everywhere - in everyday life, agriculture and industry. The body needs water more than anything else, with the exception of oxygen. A well-fed person can live without food for 3-4 weeks, but without water - only a few days.

A living cell requires water both to maintain its structure and for normal functioning; it makes up approximately 2/3 of body weight. Water helps regulate body temperature and serves as a lubricant, facilitating joint movement. It plays an important role in building and repairing body tissues.

With a sharp reduction in water consumption, a person becomes ill or his body begins to function worse. But water, of course, is needed not only for drinking: it also helps a person keep his body, home and living environment in good hygienic condition.

Without water, personal hygiene is impossible, that is, a set of practical actions and skills that protect the body from diseases and maintain human health at a high level. Washing, a warm bath and swimming bring a feeling of vigor and calm.

A number of skin and eye diseases can be prevented through the systematic mechanical removal of pathogenic microbes from the surface of the body and clothing using soap and water.

The water we consume must be clean. Diseases transmitted through contaminated water cause deterioration in health, disability and death of a huge number of people, especially children, mainly in less developed countries where low levels of personal and communal hygiene are common. Diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, and hookworm are transmitted primarily to humans as a result of contamination of water sources with excrement excreted from the body of patients.

Success in the fight against these diseases or the achievement of their complete elimination depends on how the system for removing all metabolic products released from the human body is organized and how the matter of providing clean water to the entire population is organized.

Finally, Giardia infection sometimes occurs through water, which affects the small intestine and liver.

The quality of water is also determined by the presence of chemical inclusions in it, which are first detected by our senses: smell, vision.

Without any exaggeration, we can say that high-quality water that meets sanitary, hygienic and epidemiological requirements is one of the indispensable conditions for maintaining human health. But for it to be beneficial, it must be cleaned of all harmful impurities and delivered clean to a person.

In recent years, the way we look at water has changed. Not only hygienists, but also biologists, engineers, builders, economists, and politicians began to talk about it more and more often. And it’s understandable - the rapid development of social production and urban planning, the growth of material well-being and the cultural level of the population are constantly increasing the need for water, forcing it to be used more rationally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that the impact of the environment on human health is great and not all environmental problems have been solved. Pollution of the environment, rivers, lakes, and atmospheric air negatively affects human health. Human economic activity is increasingly becoming the main source of biosphere pollution. Gaseous, liquid and solid industrial wastes are entering the natural environment in increasing quantities.

Anthropogenic changes in the environment and its pollution cause the evolution of diseases and their pathogens. We need to be more careful about nature. All over the world, people strive to minimize environmental pollution; also in the Russian Federation, for example, a criminal code has been adopted, one of the chapters of which is devoted to establishing punishment for environmental crimes.

Everything in this world has its own balance and clear interconnection, including the climate, which has a serious impact on human health. As you know, sick people endure the vagaries of weather and climate change especially hard - with a particular disease in their own way. With a sharp change in weather, physical and mental performance decreases, illnesses worsen, and the number of mistakes, accidents and even deaths increases.

Everyone knows that proper nutrition is the key to health and longevity. People should think about the fact that they need to eat more vitamins, because a deficiency of vegetables, fruits, and berries is more serious and difficult to eliminate.

You should not eat if you are in an abnormal emotional state. This makes food less digestible and less beneficial for the human body.

The body needs water more than anything else, with the exception of oxygen. A well-fed person can live without food for 3-4 weeks, but without water - only a few days. Without water, life on earth will disappear.

Humanity must take care of the environment. We should think about how our descendants will live after us.

wellness pollution nutrition health

Bibliography

1. Velichkovsky B.T. "Human health and the environment" (textbook).

2. Law of the Russian Federation of January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ “On Environmental Protection”. - M.: 2002.

3. Bolshakov V.N., Kachak V.V., Kobernichenko V.G. etc. - Ecology. Textbook. 2nd edition (New University Library) - 2005.

4. Wikipedia. Internet.

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