You Are a Product of Your Environment

When it comes to ending your body burnout, you need to heal your mind, your body and your environment. There are three main aspects to healing your ‘environment’ but in today’s article, I want to focus on toxins.

When I did my 4-year training at the Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine with world-renowned functional medicine practitioner Dr. Daniel Kalish, I don’t know how many times Dr. Kalish banged on about toxins being one of the major causes of health issues in our world today. And he’s right - our world has never been more toxic. 

Our World Has Never Been More Toxic

By toxic, I’m talking about physical toxins here - like harmful chemicals in your home or workspace, dirty electricity and mould. Humans emit more than 250 billion tonnes of chemical substances a year. These toxins are doing damage to our health - they are disrupting our hormones, they are causing oxidative damage to our cells, they are being linked to diseases like cancer, heart problems, and infertility. The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases have also increased worldwide over the last few decades. And heavy metals have been linked to mental health issues like anger and depression. Even environmental toxins are causing more weight gain and obesity due to disrupting the endocrine system.

My Chemical-Sensitivity Story

I recently ran a DIY Toxin-Free Skincare Workshop for Libraries Tasmania, and I shared my own ‘toxic’ story. After my second baby, when my health was really failing, I remember feeling really nauseous. Elsie was 3-months old at the time, and I did a million (slight exaggeration!) pregnancy tests, thinking what I was feeling was morning sickness again. I was in panic mode, thinking: how could I cope having another baby when I felt so horrid?! Turned out my body systems had become so burned-out that I was becoming ultra sensitive to chemicals in my home. And it wasn’t just the stinky cleaning products that were causing me heart palpitations (which felt like anxiety), headaches and eye irritation, but also these new fake scent burners that I had recently purchased - these were causing me to feel nauseous, like I had morning sickness! Once I realised this, I did a major clean out of ALL toxins in my home, and swapped them out for natural products, essential oils, and my own DIY creations (that actually later became my Happy Biome natural home & skincare range). All the toxic-related symptoms disappeared immediately once my environment was cleaned up, and overtime my other burnout symptoms healed as I holistically approached the healing of my mind, body and environment.

Toxic Mould

Mould and poor air-quality in homes and work places can also lead to what is called Dampness and Mould Hypersensitivity Syndrome, which can result in allergies, respiratory infections, and even central nervous system symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, muscle and joint pain, gut issues, and multiple chemical sensitivity - sounds a lot like burnout symptoms, doesn’t it!? It is estimated that 25% of the population are susceptible to mould toxicity. If you think about it - if you have a family of four or more living/working/schooling in a mouldy environment, at least one of you may have mould sensitivity.

Dirty Electricity 

EMF’s (electric and magnetic fields) can also be a form of poison in your environment, especially for susceptible people. EMF’s are invisible areas of energy, often referred to as radiation, that are associated with the use of electrical power and various forms of natural and man-made lighting. There has been an exponential increase in the use of electronic devices over the past few decades, and data shows that EMF’s can cause cell damage to to an abnormal stress response in the body when exposed to too many EMF’s, which breaks DNA strands. Excessive EMF exposure has been linked to increasing the rise of cancer, reproductive issues and neurobehavioral abnormalities . The roll-out of 5G telecommunication systems also has researchers concerned about the impact on health. I personally will feel EMF symptoms if I’ve been around technology for too long - it will show up for me as numbness in my face and hands, and used to cause breathing issues and heart palpitations. I’ll generally just feel uptight, agitated, and even a bit depressed, if I’ve been exposed to too much dirty electricity.

We also live in what I call the “Light Age” where we are exposed to far too much artificial light after the sun goes down. This “light pollution” alone can cause hormonal disruptions which can affect your sleep-wake cycle, leading to insomnia and other inflammatory diseases.

Rate Your Environment

Living in a toxic space will inflame and burn your body systems out, make you feel more overwhelmed, and could quite literally be causing you to feel like Dragon Mum or Zombie Dad (or vice versa!). Not to mention could set you up for some serious diseases in the future, like cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

If you want to rate how ‘clean’ your environment is, take our Ending Body Burnout Assessment. You’ll get a report at the end, with one of the categories being all about your environment - is it promoting health, or is it silently poisoning you?

Filipa Bellette is Co-Founder of Chris & Filly Functional Medicine. She is an accredited Clinical Nutritionist & Functional Medicine Practitioner. She is also a Ph.D. thought-leader, award-winning writer, and regularly published as a guest blogger & in the media. Together with her husband Chris Bellette, Filipa has worked with over 2,000+ busy, burnout clients in the last 10+ years, and specialises in producing healthy, balanced, and happy Mums & Dads...or as she calls it, a Power Parent! Filipa’s own passion for producing high-performance Power Parents came from her own personal experience of Mummy Burnout, after having babies and juggling the demands of business, family, and her failing health.