Apartment Therapy is the ability of your apartment or home to suppress, confront, and positively affect your mental and physical health. According to the Mental Health Foundation, anxiety and depression are the two most prevalent mental health issues. Neuroscientists have found that decisions about flooring and lighting can make homes better for your mental health. It can reduce stress and fatigue and even help you be more creative.
However, several interior design strategies and methods have been found to lessen anxiety and sadness. It’s not a new idea to say that the way a house is built affects a person’s mental health, but new research has given this idea more support. The connections are well-established in the healthcare sector. Creating places where people can interact, and disconnect can improve mental health.
But it has been shown that several interior design strategies and techniques can help reduce fear and hopelessness. Although there has been a long-standing correlation between aesthetics in the home and emotional stability, more recent study has only served to confirm it. In the field of healthcare, the relationships have been thoroughly researched. For example, making spaces for isolation and social contact can enhance mental well-being.
If you’ve ever visited a friend’s home, you may be familiar with the notion that a place is right for you. It may be an excellent sensation of rest as if all your concerns have been left at the door. Or you could have discovered the ideal working setting that inspires you to develop new ideas. However, you will only succeed if you try to justify your feelings or duplicate the consequences at home.
The ancient Chinese art of feng shui asserts that laws of harmonious living impact the flow of energy through your body. Many contemporary design authorities follow a similar stance and provide lifestyle advice. They provide guidance on how to arrange books, shape rooms, choose materials for furniture, and paint colors. These suggestions may make your home seem friendly, but do they make you feel good? Going with your instinct when it comes to decor is fine, but there might be a better way to choose a style.
An increasing number of neuroscientists are working alongside interior decorators and architects. They are beginning to rigorously assess the impact of design components on the brain and body through well-planned tests employing objective physiological and psychological metrics. The timing of the job is perfect. Many people now spend more time at home because of the advent of remote employment. This can offer evidence-based techniques to optimize your living environment for your physical and mental health. Whether you want to improve your mood, lower your blood pressure, reduce unhealthy behaviors, or lessen the burden of dementia.
How some interior design decisions may improve your physical and emotional well-being
It’s important to take the time to think about our homes so that we can understand how they affect us. The home can be transformed from a source of stress or isolation to a haven of peace and comfort with minor changes to extensive renovations. Pay attention to your feelings as you move from room to room in your house. How do you spend your free time? How do you feel when someone enters and lives in your space? Subtle but critical aspects, including the height of the ceilings and the presence of plants, can enhance mood, help people concentrate, and reduce anxiety. Environments that encourage efficiency, closeness, and productivity elicit an automatic response from people.
Everyone has experienced returning home after a tough day. Stress at work may cause you to suffer from anxiety. Or perhaps you had a conflict with a relative. You may have lost a crucial game or suffered the loss of a loved one. Our natural inclination is to head home after being shocked or distressed. Unwind, recharge, and crouch over your wounds. We withdraw to our zones when we need spiritual or social security. Yet, many of our life’s moments are framed by the private areas in our houses. Since your personal spaces are where many important and stressful life events take place, it’s vital that they make you feel good and give you positive emotional energy.
Even though so much of life is beyond our control, we have complete authority over our homes. How you decorate your home, paint your walls, and organize your things will significantly affect your safety and happiness. This is easy to notice in children. Kids build nests in their beds without understanding why. They adorn their rooms and beds with the items they cherish. They want their space to be unique to them while still being secure and free from parental or sibling influence.
A “stay out of my room” sign is not so much an act of disobedience as it is an effort to establish a safe refuge. Some interior design features keep popping up repeatedly, even though many components have been associated with more significant mental health. How sunshine, open space, plants and flowers, natural elements, color, and artwork affect people has been thoroughly researched. Each design component may help create a space beneficial for lowering stress, anxiety, and depression when appropriately handled.
IMPROVING THE SPACE IN YOUR HOME CAN IMPROVE YOUR SPIRIT – Apartment therapy
Most people prefer a lot of room over a bit of place, but only some are aware that a feeling of space may also improve your mood. Individuals often feel happier and more creative in rooms with taller ceilings. However, rooms with lower ceilings might nonetheless obtain the benefits of spaciousness. One of the essential elements of happy settings is a feeling of space.
Clutter-free, open homes facilitate better moods. Almost any room can feel airy with the right design, furniture, organization, and lighting.
Decluttering is the first step in creating more space in homes and rooms. A room’s layout, furniture arrangement, storage options, and color choices significantly affect how open and airy it seems. For example, a calm and relaxing house should have well-organized rooms. Environments that were easy to get around in and encouraged social interaction helped people feel less anxious and overwhelmed. In addition, the furniture placement and the purpose of furniture pieces helped create psychologically healthy spaces in all room sizes.
SUNLIGHT LIGHTENS YOUR MOOD IN APARTMENT THERAPY
Though lovely to be in a light-filled space, did you know that sunshine also makes people happier? Sunlight is a mood enhancer, whether received outside or through a window. Greater exposure to sunshine can improve mood. Lack of sunlight over time can make people feel depressed or anxious. On the other hand, humans at home and work appear to be energized and motivated by sunlight. People who had to work only in artificial light still lacked sleep and had little energy, despite studies showing the benefits of natural light on the mind and body.
THE MOOD IS IMPROVED BY PLANTS AND Fresh flowers IN THE HOUSE
Bringing nature indoors improves emotions, and one of the best ways to achieve this is by using indoor plants and flowers. Plants help people focus, remember things better, and feel less stressed. Numerous varieties of houseplants act as natural air filters, lower allergy levels, and improve the quality of the air. They regulate humidity, increase the amount of oxygen in the air, and look great. They would help individuals feel calm and focused.
Additionally, flowers do have mood-enhancing properties. The presence of flowers around the house can boost happiness and lessen the chance of sadness. Flowers not only offer visual splendor, but they also help individuals rest and calm down. Flowers add beauty and cheer to any environment.
BRING IN THE ELEMENTS: EARTH, WATER, WIND, FIRE, AND METAL
Individuals feel more at ease and less stressed in their houses thanks to the sunlight, space, plants, and flowers. It is not a coincidence that these are all-natural ingredients. Humankind has tried to replicate nature’s beauty and soothing qualities indoors. As a result, people have been bringing nature indoors for thousands of years, whether through animal furs, woven grass mats, or Christmas trees.
Using natural elements such as earth, water, wood, metal, and fire in shapes and materials. We have various options for incorporating these components into modern homes. Mirrors and reflected surfaces offer the same advantages as fountains and swimming pools. Fans and open windows introduce the wind. Still, some of its psychological benefits are also provided by mobiles and fast-moving textiles. Candles and fireplaces allow us to bring the fire inside. The elements of iron, brass, silver, wood, and stone all include metal.
Healthy, happy homes should make it easy to feel at ease by using the elements and literal design interpretations. For example, we can employ water in therapeutic ways, such as deep baths and rain showers. We may use stone as a decorative element by placing it in dishes of smooth rocks. Thanks to sunrooms and screen porches, we can design cozy interior areas that connect the inside and the outside.
ART IN THE HOME AFFECTS MOOD
You may improve your mood and mental health by seeing art. But some art can also evoke gloomy or unfavorable feelings. The psychology of art is founded on social standards, just like the psychology of color. How individuals respond to art is significantly influenced by their likes and experiences. But we also know that one of the best ways to make a room feel warm and healing is to add beauty and personal emotions. A pricey print or an original work of art might be found in a home. Art may take many forms, including pottery, ceramics, silverware, sculptures, ornamental items, glasses, and dishware.
Relaxation techniques that are compatible with your worldview include creative expression. Observing art has been proven to be a stress-reduction technique. This is why many modern approaches to treating mental illness include both creating and enjoying art. In addition, viewing art has been shown to reduce stress, no matter where it comes from or how much it costs.
Our brains are programmed to recognize patterns, respond to them, and associate feelings with aesthetic and ornamental features. We immediately associate particular colors, forms, pictures, and aesthetic expressions, even as infants. Most individuals can find beauty in a wide range of artistic expressions.
INTERIOR DESIGN: USE COLOR TO IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH
Color is one of the most studied aspects of design that may affect our mood. Color has a significant role in how many of us see the world. The saturation and brightness of each hue are essential factors in their emotional capabilities and psychological characteristics and advantages. The term “saturation” can be used to describe how pure a color is. For example, less vibrant colors tend to contain more black or grey. Steel blue is less saturated than pure blue.
The degree of white or seeming lightness in color determines its brightness. Less saturation exists in vibrant hues. Each hue has psychological effects related to it, and these paler, lighter shades can be calming. Specific hues constantly evoke certain emotions. True red, for instance, is linked to anxiety, but a soft, blush pink that is both less saturated and brighter is calming. Profoundly saturated and less vibrant hues, like emerald green, can have a powerful or stimulating effect. Reds, yellows, and oranges are “warm colors.”
At the same time, greens, blues, and purples are “cool colors,” and these distinctions are not coincidences. When we are in environments with warm hues, we feel physiologically warmer. Cool shades help us feel more relaxed. Reds are famous in the winter, while turquoise and teal are more prevalent in the summer.
Even though a ton of data demonstrates how most people respond to colors, one’s experience with a hue precedes societal conventions. Our histories influence our feelings about colors. White is the hue of death in several cultures, even though American brides wear it. If you spent your carefree, joyful youth in a room that was brilliant red, crimson might help you feel upbeat and pleased as an adult.
Suppose the kitchen of your cherished grandma was a vivid shade of purple. In that case, purple may stand for tender indulgence and sharpen your desire. Even if your experience with color conflicts with scientific findings or you have a surprisingly strong emotional attachment to a particular hue, make sure the colors you choose for your home give the impression of a comfortable shelter that calms and relaxes.
