Is Our Environment So Bad It Makes Us MENTALLY Sick? | Dr Efosa Uwubamwen, Sensory Health Founder
Can Our Environments Actually Heal Our Minds?
Picture this: you wake up to the blare of traffic outside your window, check your phone immediately to a flood of notifications, rush through a concrete jungle to work under fluorescent lights, and wonder why you feel perpetually on edge. Sound familiar?
What if I told you that our environments aren't just failing to support our mental health—they're actively working against it? And more provocatively, what if the very technology we blame for our overwhelm could actually become our greatest ally in healing?
When Your Surroundings Become the Problem
Dr. Efosa Uwubamwen, a London-based medical doctor turned creative strategist and founder of Wellvrse, has spent years exploring a uncomfortable truth: our modern environments are chronically dysregulating our nervous systems. We've built a world designed to overstimulate us, then act surprised when anxiety and depression rates skyrocket.
Think about your typical day. Urban noise pollution, digital overwhelm, artificial lighting, and concrete landscapes bombard your senses from morning until night. Your nervous system—essentially your body's command centre—is constantly processing this sensory overload, determining stress responses, and trying to keep you safe in what it perceives as a hostile environment.
The result? A society living in a state of chronic activation, where our stress responses are stuck in overdrive. We're not just tired; we're dysregulated at a fundamental level.
The Crisis Intervention Trap
Here's where it gets particularly frustrating: our healthcare system waits until we reach crisis point before intervening. We've become experts at treating mental health emergencies but terrible at preventing them in the first place.
Imagine if we applied this logic to physical health—only treating people once they've had heart attacks rather than promoting heart-healthy lifestyles. It sounds absurd, yet this is exactly how we approach mental wellness.
Dr. Uwubamwen advocates for built-in preventative mental healthcare—designing environments and experiences that support nervous system regulation before problems arise. It's about creating spaces that heal rather than harm.
When Technology Becomes Medicine
This is where the conversation gets really interesting. Virtual reality therapy is emerging as a powerful tool for mental health treatment, offering something traditional therapy often can't: controlled, immersive environments designed specifically for healing.
Unlike adding more digital noise to an already overwhelming world, therapeutic VR creates personalised healing spaces. Combined with biometric feedback, these experiences can help retrain stress responses and promote nervous system regulation in real-time.
But technology is only part of the equation. Dr. Uwubamwen emphasises that listening to yourself—through journaling, mindfulness, and self-awareness practices—is a critical but underdeveloped health skill. The real challenge isn't accessing knowledge about mental health; it's changing behaviour and maintaining consistent practices.
Beyond Individual Solutions
While personal practices matter enormously, we can't ignore the bigger picture. Environmental design and social justice are deeply interconnected. Not everyone has access to healing environments or the luxury of choice in where they live and work.
The future lies in adaptive physical and digital environments that support nervous system regulation for everyone. This requires grassroots individual change supported by informed policy for systemic transformation. We need environments designed with human wellbeing at their core, not as an afterthought.
Your Next Steps
Start small. Notice how different environments affect your nervous system. Do certain spaces make you feel calm or agitated? Begin developing your self-awareness skills through simple practices like journaling or mindful breathing.
But don't stop there. Advocate for better design in your workplace, community spaces, and local policy. Support businesses and initiatives that prioritise human wellbeing in their environmental design.
The path forward isn't about escaping to perfect healing retreats—it's about transforming the everyday spaces where we live, work, and connect. Because when our environments support our nervous systems, mental health becomes not something we have to fight for, but something we naturally maintain.
Sources:
● Wellvrse: http://www.wellvrse.com
● Dr. Efosa Uwubamwen LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-efosa
● Lost and Searching Podcast: https://sevenjacobs.com/lost-and-searching
● Full Episode Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO6l9CNQoSFdYrSofAAHBcTdsnpYk8iYg
