The biological inheritance of built environments
“We literally embody, biologically, the societal and ecological conditions in which we grow up, develop and live.” –Dr. Nancy Krieger, Harvard University
People’s environments matter a great deal in how healthy or unhealthy they can and will be throughout their lifespans. As the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently reported, “The historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, norms, and demographic and geographic patterns shapes the life of every individual across the country, and its effects persist over multiple generations.” Simply put, health is much more than a predetermined outcome of an individual’s biological and genetic makeup, as well as more than a matter of individual behavior and access to quality health care and coverage. Health is also a social production. It is a dynamic and cumulative embodiment of people’s prior and ongoing experiences in society and is shaped by the interaction of several forces. As emerging research shows, people’s health can even be shaped by the lived experiences of their ancestors.
The degree to which the built environment—the man-made communities and surroundings where people live out their lives—matters for health is perhaps most poignantly demonstrated in the relationship between mother and infant. Much attention and research has focused on the impact of an expectant mother’s individual traits and behaviors on a fetus in utero, as well as her access to quality health care coverage and maternal care services. The burgeoning field of epigenetics—the study of heritable changes in gene function one’s environment causes—posits that the influences at play during pregnancy encompass far more than just maternal characteristics. In fact, they reach as far back as the life experiences of mothers’ and fathers’ parents and even grandparents. Studies have observed evidence of a multigenerational biological impact—finding that adverse environmental exposure throughout parents’ lives can reverberate in the physiological development of their descendants for at least two generations to come.“We literally embody, biologically, the societal and ecological conditions in which we grow up, develop and live.” –Dr. Nancy Krieger, Harvard University
People’s environments matter a great deal in how healthy or unhealthy they can and will be throughout their lifespans. As the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently reported, “The historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, norms, and demographic and geographic patterns shapes the life of every individual across the country, and its effects persist over multiple generations.” Simply put, health is much more than a predetermined outcome of an individual’s biological and genetic makeup, as well as more than a matter of individual behavior and access to quality health care and coverage. Health is also a social production. It is a dynamic and cumulative embodiment of people’s prior and ongoing experiences in society and is shaped by the interaction of several forces. As emerging research shows, people’s health can even be shaped by the lived experiences of their ancestors.
The degree to which the built environment—the man-made communities and surroundings where people live out their lives—matters for health is perhaps most poignantly demonstrated in the relationship between mother and infant. Much attention and research has focused on the impact of an expectant mother’s individual traits and behaviors on a fetus in utero, as well as her access to quality health care coverage and maternal care services. The burgeoning field of epigenetics—the study of heritable changes in gene function one’s environment causes—posits that the influences at play during pregnancy encompass far more than just maternal characteristics. In fact, they reach as far back as the life experiences of mothers’ and fathers’ parents and even grandparents. Studies have observed evidence of a multigenerational biological impact—finding that adverse environmental exposure throughout parents’ lives can reverberate in the physiological development of their descendants for at least two generations to come.
Policymakers must address the racial bias in policies that shapes communities
“The psychological weight of three generations of black women lives in my womb.” –Nicole A. Taylor
Here is a way to support the black community online: https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/support-black-owned-businesses/