You Can’t Always Out-Mindset Your Environment

Why geography shapes mental health more than we admit

4 min read

Just now

Mental health can be portrayed as a mindset problem.

If you’re struggling, you need better habits and discipline. A stronger, positive outlook. A rewriting your inner narrative.

While all of this is true, there’s another strategy piece left missing and unresolved, because it’s something many of us simply do not have the immediate fix for.

Environment.

Where you live may influence your mental health more than how hard you try to rewire your brain and think positively.

Research has long shown that people in warmer climates and those living near natural bodies of water report higher levels of happiness and lower rates of depression and anxiety.

Sunlight affects serotonin production. Seasonal shifts disrupt circadian rhythms and sleep. But cold, darkness, and isolation increase baseline stress in the body.

This is by no means an excuse, but it is beneficial knowledge and awareness that somehow gets overlooked through all the other overload of information on mental health improvement.

I live in a mountain region where winter drags on like an obnoxious song you can’t shake out of…