How does the natural environment affect human life?

People have realized that the natural environment has a great influence on human health and longevity. Many examples show that the environment in coastal areas is more conducive to human health. At present, the countries with the longest life expectancy in the world are Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Japan. These countries are all island countries or peninsula countries, and coastal residents are surrounded by the ocean. Fiji, a Pacific island country, has found almost no cancer cases for decades. The Danube Delta in Romania faces the Black Sea in the east, and the average life expectancy of residents here is the highest in the country. Residents living in coastal areas rarely get cancer, and the incidence of coronary heart disease and diabetes is also very low, because they eat a lot of seafood.

Living environment affects human health. Why is the coastal environment more conducive to human health? Some people think: 1. Coastal areas face the sea, and the marine air is less polluted than inland, and contains less toxic substances, but there are many trace elements necessary for human body, such as anions such as iodine and chlorine, which can not only supplement human physiological needs, but also sterilize; 2. Coastal areas are rich in seafood and all kinds of food, which is conducive to regulating the nutritional balance of human body. Therefore, endemic goiter, Keshan disease and dental caries, which are widely prevalent in China, rarely occur in coastal areas; 3. The coastal climate is generally mild and humid, unlike the continental climate, which is conducive to human metabolism and cell protection; 4. It is found that the incidence of all cancers increases with age, which is related to the trend that essential elements in the human body decrease and non-essential elements accumulate with age. Therefore, if we can meet the needs of human body for essential trace elements and control the accumulation of non-essential elements, it will be of great benefit to human health. Residents in coastal areas eat both local products and seafood, and the sources of essential elements for life are rich. The ocean is the hometown of all living things. In seawater, the concentration of toxic elements is very low, and essential elements are easy to obtain. Therefore, marine food is most beneficial to meet the needs of human body for essential elements, and it can also reduce the accumulation speed of non-essential elements in human body.

There are also four famous longevity areas in inland areas, namely, Caucasus of the Soviet Union, Hongza of Pakistan, Weir Kabamba village of Ecuador and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. There are 5000 centenarians in the Caucasus of the Soviet Union, and 85 centenarians in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.

A large number of studies have found that the main factors affecting people's life span are genetic factors, social factors, psychological factors, economic conditions, living standards, diet and nutrition, sanitary conditions, diseases, natural environment, geochemical factors and so on. Among them, environmental factors are the main factors.

According to research, the inland longevity areas are mostly between 500 ~ 1500m above sea level, with annual average temperature 17℃ ~ 20℃, annual average rainfall 1250 ~ 1500mm and annual average sunshine time1400 ~/kloc. These factors constitute the specific conditions of green mountains and green waters, pleasant climate, fresh air and rich specialty products. In addition, there is another important feature in longevity areas, that is, the prevalence of diseases that seriously threaten people's health (especially middle-aged and elderly people) such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, tumor and diabetes is significantly lower than that in general areas.

It is found that different geological structures and geochemical compositions have different effects on human health. Especially, the content of trace elements in the surrounding environment has more obvious influence on human health. The study also found that people's insufficient intake of elements such as cobalt, selenium, zinc and chromium, or excessive intake of elements such as cadmium, will lead to high incidence of hypertension, coronary heart disease and stroke. Many studies have proved that the imbalance of trace elements in the environment is closely related to the occurrence of malignant tumors. In particular, it is found that soybeans in Changshou area are rich in trace elements.

In addition, many reports point out that there is a certain relationship between longevity and heredity. The family longevity rate of the long-lived elderly is 60.0% ~ 84.6%, and most chromosomes of the long-lived elderly are not lost, and the chromosome aberration rate is also low. More than 90% of the long-lived elderly are manual workers, and their diet is mainly vegetarian.