Climate change and mental health
Sleep, nutrition, and physical activity are key health-related behaviours for population health. The climate in northern Europe will become not only warmer and sunnier in summer, but also warmer and darker in winter. It will probably increase the level of physical activity, but decrease the consumption of fruits and vegetables, as well as increase the occurrence of sleep disturbances in a population (Wennman and Partonen, 2023). Thus, symptoms of seasonal affective disorder and major depressive episodes in winter, as well as insomnia in both summer and winter, are expected to become gradually more common or more severe in a population experiencing the changing climate.
Planetary health and mental health
Geodiversity underlying biodiversity has potential for impacts on the human health and health-related behaviours by providing green, blue, and white spaces where to spend time. Constructed environment with artificial lighting adds its impact to living organisms in the habitat. Therefore, planetary health promotes not only sleep, nutrition, and physical activity, but also mental health. However, there is still a gap in the knowledge concerning the slowly emerging and long-term impacts of the ongoing climate change on mental health (Burenby et al. 2021). Impacts of the ongoing changes in biodiversity as well as geodiversity on mental health await elucidation as well.
Further reading
Wennman H, Partonen T. Impacts of temperature and solar radiation changes in northern Europe on key population health behaviors: a scoping review of reviews. Scand J Public Health 2023 Dec 23 [Online ahead of print].
