When we think about being healthy, we often imagine eating well, exercising and seeing doctors. But there’s much more to good health than just those things. Experts like Dr. Richard J. Jackson explain that our health is shaped by many social and environmental conditions. These are called the social determinants of health. In simple terms, they are the things in our lives, how we live, work, learn and age, that influence our health.
Here are some important determinants and how they matter:
How much money you have affects your health in big ways. If a family has low income, they might live in a neighborhood with fewer grocery stores, or in housing that is crowded or unsafe. With less money, people may struggle to pay for healthy food, safe housing, transportation, or medical care. Dr. Jackson emphasizes where people live and the resources, they have access to help determine health outcomes.
Schooling matters for health beyond just learning facts. A good education opens doors to better jobs, better pay, and better living conditions. It also helps people understand health information and make healthy choices. Poor education often goes together with fewer opportunities. So education is a key social determinant because it affects where you will be in life.
The type of work you do, how many hours you work, and the conditions of your job, all affect your health. A safe, well-paying job supports health. A dangerous job, or one that pays poorly, or causes chronic stress, can hurt health. Dr. Jackson’s work on the built environment in cities shows that labor, and how jobs connect to how we use our cities and move around, matter for health outcomes.
The rules and policies in our society determine many of the conditions we live in. What kinds of housing are allowed? What kinds of workplaces are regulated? What neighborhoods get investment and which do not? Jackson argues that the environment we build and the policies we follow are part of health. The law shapes our neighborhoods, work, housing, and therefore our health.
Who we are, our gender (sex), our age, our race or ethnicity, also plays a role in health. These factors don’t determine health purely by themselves, but they influence the conditions we face. For example, people of certain races or ethnicities often live in places with fewer resources or more environmental hazards. Dr. Jackson highlights how community design and the environment matter more for some demographic groups than others.
Finally, and this is something Jackson has focused on a lot, the physical environment around us matters. That includes the homes we live in, the neighborhoods we use, how well designed they are, how safe they are, how much green space there is, how clean the air and water is. As Jackson puts it, “you cannot be healthy in an unhealthy community.”, cannot be healthy in an unhealthy community.”
Dr. Jackson’s work particularly stresses that health is not just about biology or individual lifestyle, the places we live and the systems we live within are critical. For example, he wrote about how the built-environment, roads, housing, green space, affects chronic diseases like obesity or diabetes.
When we understand these determinants, we begin to see that improving health isn’t only about doctors and medicine. It’s about making sure communities have good schools, safe and pleasant neighborhoods, laws that protect workers and residents, environments that let people walk or play, and equal opportunities regardless of race, gender or income.
These determinants are interconnected. For example:
If you live in a neighborhood designed poorly (environment), it may be hard to walk, bike, or access good food (environment + economics).
If your job is low-paying and dangerous (labor + economics), you may also live in a place with fewer resources (environment + education).
People who are from certain racial or ethnic groups may face additional barriers, such as discrimination, which affect all the other determinants (race/demographics + law + environment).
Dr. Jackson’s work particularly stresses that health is not just about biology or individual lifestyle, the places we live and the systems we live within are critical. For example, he wrote about how the built-environment, roads, housing, green space, affects chronic diseases like obesity or diabetes.
When we understand these determinants, we begin to see that improving health isn’t only about doctors and medicine. It’s about making sure communities have good schools, safe and pleasant neighborhoods, laws that protect workers and residents, environments that let people walk or play, and equal opportunities regardless of race, gender or income.
What can we do? Support policies that invest in underserved neighborhoods (better schools, safe parks, clean air). Advocate for laws that protect workers, ensure safe housing, and reduce environmental hazards.
Recognizing that health equity means everyone should have a fair chance to be healthy, not just those with more money or resources.
