As early as the 18th century, man lived in complete harmony with nature. But since the end of the 19th century, an imbalance arose and began to develop between people and the environment. And the reason for this is the activity of people, their impact on the biosphere. And today the volume of this influence has become 8-10 times higher than the permissible. In practice, the destruction of the ecological and biological systems of the Earth takes place. But man is a child of this planet, the same product of nature, like the rest of the inhabitants of the Earth. And therefore, ecology and human health are interrelated things. And when the environment changes, the health of all mankind changes accordingly. Indeed, new diseases, which are becoming more and more every day, are derived from the environment.
At its core, human health is a synthetic category. It includes not only physiological, but also psychological, moral and intellectual components. From this we can conclude that patients are not only those people who have physical defects or chronic diseases, but also people with an unstable psyche, weak intellect or with moral pathology. Therefore, the environmental impact on human health consists of several factors that determine the quality of the environment.
These include geophysical factors. And first of all, it is the climate of a particular region. Its component is atmospheric pressure. It depends on the height of a particular area. Also, this concept includes dry air and its degree of dust. The definition of climate also includes the duration and intensity of sunshine, temperature fluctuations and the intensity of solar radiation.
There is also such a category as geochemical factors. Ecology and human health, respectively, depend on them. These include a lack of iron in the soil or iodine in water. In many regions, enrichment plants are located close to settlements that are associated with the extraction of such chemical elements as mercury, arsenic, lead, bismuth, and others like that.
And the category of biotic factors includes the effect on humans of various allergens, as well as poisons of animal and plant origin. This category also includes the presence in the region of beneficial plants and animals, or vice versa, the impact of pathogenic organisms.
But regional environmental problems do not end there. Natural catastrophic phenomena and processes have a serious impact on human health. These are earthquakes, floods, droughts and landslides. Also, any polluted environment adversely affects the human body. According to scientists, an average person drinks about two liters of water every day and breathes in more than nine kilograms of air. And through these environments the most harmful substances get into his body. And it is not for nothing that diseases that are associated with the respiratory system are now becoming more and more. And most often they are affected by children in whom the immune system did not manage to get stronger.
And the worst thing is that the ecology and human health are now already connected even before the birth of the latter. If we take the statistics for Ukraine, then 70% of pregnant women now have deviations in their state of health. And the proportion of newborns who have physical or neurological disorders has now increased by 20%. And their incidence over the past five years has increased 2.5 times. And if only 20 units were not suitable for military service 20 years ago, now only 20% of young men are considered fit for military service. And among the girls the situation is not the best. Two-thirds of them also do not differ in perfect health.
Therefore, ecology and human health are now becoming priority problems in many countries. And the threat to the physical and mental development of people can soon become a threat to the survival of mankind. The pretty “spoiled” environment today has such a negative impact on a person that it is increasingly destroying his genotype and causing significant damage to the national gene pools of many nations.
But the environmental problem does not exist in its purest form. It is directly related to the economy, politics, new technologies and the culture of mankind. And the sooner people realize the importance of this problem, the easier it will be possible to solve it.