I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it鈥檚 the time of man
I don鈥檛 know who l am
But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we鈥檝e got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
鈥� Joni Mitchel, from the song Woodstock
What an amazing decade it has been for space exploration.
We have learned to see our solar system differently. Pluto is now a dwarf planet, and we鈥檝e discovered other dwarf planets at the far reaches of our solar system. We鈥檙e driving rovers around on Mars. We really ARE stardust鈥攑articles born of cosmic explosions travel by the ton to Earth and become the stuff that makes up our cells. To be simultaneously aware of both how inconsequential our speck of a planet is in the universe, and yet understand the incredible odds that led to the formation of life on Earth provides incredible perspective, reinforcing the inter-connectedness of everything.
Connection is also at the heart of what feels like a new age of the exploration of another universe, the human brain. In the same way we as a species have dispelled myths and made great discoveries about our universe, we are making amazing links between both external and internal factors that affect brain function.
At a time when mental health is slowly gaining the attention it deserves as a major health issue in our society, there are many reasons to feel hopeful.
Let鈥檚 start with our expanding understanding around the role of microbes鈥攜ou know, all those little bacteria, viruses and other bugs that party it up on and in our bodies. From the creepy worms living in our eyelashes, to the multitudes of organisms that hang out in our gut, in many ways we ARE our microbes.
There are many connections between our microbes and brain function. For example, while scientists have known for some time that serotonin, a brain chemical known as a neurotransmitter, is important to our feeling of well-being, it wasn鈥檛 until recently that we understood that the majority of the body鈥檚 serotonin is made in the digestive tract, potentially as a response to the interaction with gut microbes.
A healthy gut really helps the big brain out, and as we tease out the details of this relationship, we will be better able to look after ourselves.
This is also true in the quest to better understand connections to our environments. For example, it turns out that many microbes that are good for humans can be found in our soil. It makes sense, as we evolved as a species getting our hands dirty in forests, croplands and other interesting ecosystems for hundreds of thousands of years.
Good news: getting dirty promotes better microbial health, and we鈥檝e only scratched the surface in our understanding of the intricacies of these relationships.
Equally encouraging is our growing understanding of how circadian rhythms affect mental health. It appears that our relationship with sunlight is much more than getting Vitamin D. In fact, light therapy from sun-simulating lamps has been linked to improvements in moods, and not just in people suffering from seasonal depressions. There are a number of theories as to why, including one that suggests bright light affects neurotransmitters, like serotonin and dopamine, in the same way some anti-depressants do. This is all still under investigation, but clearly light plays a role in our brain function. With time, we鈥檒l have a better understanding as to why.
As the formidable Scottish-America naturalist John Muir said, 鈥淲hen we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.鈥�
In the next decade, it鈥檚 very likely we will learn about new connections to the world around us that are profoundly important to brain health. From the microbes in our soil, to what influences our natural rhythms, our mental wellness nests at the intersection of a complicated web.
Staying connected鈥攖o our environment, our bodies and each other鈥攁ppears key to a healthy mind.
Niki Wilson
Special to the 51暗网
