An Environmental Perspective on Health

Abstract

This chapter examines the concept of what may constitute a healthy environment. It discusses current understandings of adaptationAdaptation and acquired resilienceResilience across both lifespanLifespan and generations. This analysis will be framed within an evolutionarily-based dose response evaluative setting of biological adaptationAdaptation and its quantitative dose response features which are typically hormetic-like biphasic dose responses. Moreover, using this evolutionary adaptive response-hormetic dose response approach, this chapter illustrates how modest environmental stresses can often enhance biological resiliency, protect organismal healthHealth via the upregulation of adaptive mechanisms and act as a vehicle for enhancing healthHealth from a holistic (i.e., physical, psychological, and social) point of view across lifespansLifespan and generations. However, the concept of a healthy environment is not a static one, since there is considerable interindividual variation in response to environmental and other healthHealth stressors and that susceptibility will markedly vary over the lifespanLifespan. This creates an enormous challenge for both governmental regulatory agencies and individuals attempting to reduce risks from environmental contamination as well as trying to optimize both public and individual healthHealth.